Nursing services close at Burnham-on-Sea care home rated inadequate

Manager Vicki Clist said it had been a challenging time, particularly with recruiting new staff members

A care home has closed its nursing services after an inspection rated it as inadequate.

The Care Quality Commission said Priory Court Nursing Home in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, had not been able to recruit enough staff to keep people safe.

Residents are being supported and helped to find alternative placements.

"We are confident that the urgent and necessary improvements required are already under way," said the home's manager Vicki Clist.

"The care industry has had a challenging time over the last year or so, particularly with recruitment in recent months.

"When CQC came to Priory Court we were struggling with staffing, which has had a knock-on effect to other parts of the running of the home," she added.

Priory Court Nursing Home will work with the Care Quality Commission to address the issues raised in the report

The inspection in July found safety, care and leadership to be inadequate. Country Court, the operator of Priory Court, said it had taken the "difficult decision" to close its nursing beds as a result.

Operations director Helen Richmond said: "We took immediate action on the concerns raised and feel it is necessary to make some big changes to ensure we can offer the right care for our residents."

The home has 32 residents, which are a mixture of privately-funded and local authority placements.

Residents using the nursing services are being helped to find alternative placements

Somerset County Council said it would try to find alternative care placements within the area for the residents it funds.

"We will work with the CQC and Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to support our Somerset local authority-funded residents and their families to find alternative nursing placements as quickly as possible," a spokesperson said.

Amanda Stride, CQC's head of inspection for adult social care, said the home had been rated inadequate overall and that it was working with the council and CCG to help residents find new services.