Care home staff praised, but need for improvement

A CARE home has been rapped by a watchdog after it found medicines were not safely managed and “robust investigations” were not always carried out after safety-related incidents.

The report also says training programmes will be stepped up, and a new policy has been drawn up allowing patients wishing to die at home to leave sooner.

Mental health services at a home in Reading town centre are “good” according to an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

Inspectors were also unhappy with the culture at the care home, saying: “There was a lack of trust between staff and management”.

“We identified this meant a few people who used the service were potentially at risk of sustaining a burn injury”.

The report also said a new set of values launched in April were not yet embedded and “not all the executive team” were able to describe what they were. She said residents want to stay at the home and in a letter to this newspaper, one staff member said they felt the “residents are very happy here” and that “they are cared for by very good carers”.

A spokesperson for the home said: “We take all feedback seriously and we have already put in place a thorough action plan to address matters raised in the CQC report”.

It found there continued to be a shortage of nursing staff on a few medical and surgical wards and on elderly care wards patients were waiting for staff to help them with their basic needs.

The CQC said it would conduct another inspection next year.

It has space for seven people, although there are now only five living there.

However, a few residents at the home did praise the staff, saying they were “kind” and that they provided treatment with “warmth”.

February’s inspection found breaches in regulations related to person-centred care, safeguarding, dignity and respect and quality assuranced, with four warning notices imposed for each.

Other areas identified in the inspection report in relation to staffing conflict with evidence which we have provided to the CQC and we are disappointed that this data has not been considered in the final report. We will share our findings with local commissioners, and we will return in due course to check that they have made the required improvements.

“Improvements had been made to the environment and were ongoing and the premises and equipment were well maintained”.

Jason Sykes, managing director of Allerton Park’s home service provider, Park Homes (UK) Limited, said: “The home has come a long way from where it was previously”.