Keynsham care home rated inadequate after faeces found

Hillsborough House, near Bristol, has been placed into special measures

A care home has been rated as inadequate and placed into special measures.

In April, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) conducted a surprise inspection of Hillsborough House in Keynsham after safeguarding concerns were raised.

It found poor leadership had contributed to poor levels of cleanliness, with faeces found around the Freeways Trust-run home.

The trust's CEO Claire Hayward said she was "deeply disappointed".

"This is a wake-up call to all of us in the Freeways organisation," she added.

Freeways operates and manages seven residential care homes, 10 Supported Living homes and provides community support across B&NES, Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset.

Following the inspection, the service's overall rating dropped from good to inadequate, as did the rating for how safe, and well-led the service is.

The CQC report said people's bedrooms were found dirty and smelling of urine and some people felt they had been left isolated from the community.

Inspectors also found no medicine audits were in place, and in one case a resident's ear spray - which should have been sprayed in each ear once a week - was administered daily over 27 days.

'Kind and caring'

Rebecca Bauers, the CQC's director for people with a learning disability and autistic people, said: "Poor leadership had undermined the standards of care people were receiving, and they weren't safe because they were at risk of avoidable harm.

"We saw basic issues like people's safety in the event of a fire not being considered because the provider didn't carry out things like required fire drills every three months, despite being told previously we had concerns."

Ms Bauers said they did see "kind and caring" interactions from staff but the culture "wasn't dignified".

'Unacceptable'

She said: "We saw that despite the best efforts of staff, who were kind and caring, both they and people who called Hillsborough House home, were being let down by poor leadership, which impacted on every area of their daily life.

"The culture at the service wasn't dignified, with people being expected to live in a dirty, unpleasant smelling environment, that posed an infection risk.

"We found dried faeces on a banister, stained surfaces throughout and unknown residues and debris on walls and floors."

Ms Bauers said bedrooms were also dirty and smelled of bodily fluids.

"Staff told us they didn't have time to clean.

"People's oral hygiene wasn't being supported and in one case urgent emergency treatment was required. This was unacceptable," she added.

After feedback from inspectors, Freeways did implement some changes, including arranging for a deep-clean, a fire risk assessment undertaken by an external contractor and amendments to how medicines were stored.

"They have much more that needs to be addressed" and the CQC "won't hesitate" to take further action, added Ms Bauers.

Ms Hayward said the result was "both exceptional and unexpected" given Freeways' "long-established reputation".

She said while they take some encouragement that a more recent visit by a local authority commissioner recognised "significant remedial action" and noted further scheduled improvements, "we haven't reached the standards of excellence we set ourselves".

She added the trust would be "working tirelessly" to make "long-lasting and sustainable improvements to Hillsborough House and to raise it to the excellent standard of all Freeways facilities".