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Home stayed open for nine months after failing to meet 7 in 10 essential standards

Several residents of Southfields Care Home‚ Brackley‚ Northamptonshire have been taken into hospital after the care and nursing home was forced to close on Friday for failing to provide decent care.

The home has been under a regime of random checks for the past six months because of ongoing concerns about safety and quality of care in the home. It had failed to meet key standards over six years‚ records from the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) show. Yet Southfields Care Home was permitted to carry on operating because inspectors have little power to enforce recommendations other than by shutting the home down.

Relatives are reported to be furious that they were not informed sooner that the home was failing on seven out of ten standards set by CSCI. It rated the home as poor and had given it no stars out of a possible three for the quality of care provision¹‚ making it one of the worst in the country².

CSCI inspectors made a surprise visit to the home last week. They were so concerned about the safety of residents and quality of care they took out a court order to withdraw its registration‚ forcing the home to close immediately.

Two residents were taken into hospital on Friday. A further six residents were taken into hospital on Monday after interim staff assessed them as needing immediate medical attention. Five were so ill they reportedly had to be taken out of the home on stretchers. Sadly‚ two former residents have died and another is critically ill.

Medical charts for one resident needing palliative care‚ who is stable‚ showed that she had only been given four sips of water in 24 hours and had not had morphine administered despite frequently being in pain.

One former resident‚ who has already moved into a new care home‚ has expressed delight at the size of the portions at mealtimes and surprise that there is a dining room in the new residence.

The most recent CSCI inspection report available to the public‚ dated December 2007‚ reveals Southfields failed to meet standards for health and personal care‚ daily life and social activities‚ environment‚ staffing and management. Worryingly‚ the home performed worst in health and personal care standards‚ failing to meet three out of the five criteria‚ “almost met” one requirement and was not assessed at all on one standard.

The report highlighted that references and police checks had not been followed up for new staff nor had they been given an induction‚ yet the home was rated by the inspector as having “almost met” the standard for staff being “trained and competent to do their jobs”.

Derry Miller‚ Services Director of Age Concern Northamptonshire‚ said: “It is horrific that vulnerable older people failed to get proper care. The lives of the residents were put at risk because the home was managed so badly. Some of the issues raised – such staff shortages – suggest that this home is being run on a shoestring.

“We are talking to the families of the residents to make sure they are moved into an appropriate home. We are working with the local authority and primary care trust to ensure that the residents are found another place to live quickly and that their needs and wishes are put first. Most residents have now been found a place in another home.”

Gordon Lishman‚ Director General for Age Concern England‚ said: “This case shows that checks on care homes need to be made more effective if neglect of residents is to be prevented. It is not justifiable that a home as having “almost met” a standard‚ because it is not acceptable to “almost” care for vulnerable adults. Nor is inspecting a home rated as “poor” once per year often enough to pick up changes that could affect resident’s safety and the quality of care‚ but funding cut-backs have led to fall in the overall number of inspections carried out.³

“Inspections need to be more robust and more frequent and inspectors need to have the power to impose sanctions that would stop institutional abuse in its tracks. The new Health and Social Care Act will enable inspectors to levy fines if a home fails to meet the mark‚ but these need to be enough to be an effective deterrent.

“Residents must have their human rights protected. The Government has promised to bring private care homes within the scope of the Human Rights Act‚ at least if they are providing care on behalf of local authorities. This cannot be done too quickly‚ but it would not give protection to the 12 out of the 34 residents in Southfields Care Home who paid for their own care.”

 

ENDS

Note to Editors

1. Commission for Social Care Inspection reports for Southfields Care Home can be viewed at: http://www.csci.org.uk/registeredservicesdirectory/RSSearchDetail.asp?ID=0000057148&Type=CRH. In the “scoring outcomes” in the December 2007report‚ 13 out of 37 standards were “not met (major shortfalls)”; 3 out of 37 were “almost met” (minor shortfalls); and 11 out of 37 were “met (no major shortfalls). 10 out of 37 were not inspected. It was not inspected on standard 38 as was rated as “not applicable”
2. “Around 70% of all registered providers have achieved an excellent 3 star or good 2 star rating. Only 3% of all 24‚370 providers fall into the poor category. The rest‚ 24% of all services‚ are adequate. The remaining 3% are either new services that have not been given a rating yet‚ or services that are subject to enforcement action by us.” (Commission for Social Care Inspection‚ May 2008)
3. Commission for Social Care Inspection’s annual report shows the number of inspections of care services carried out has dramatically declined – from 48‚062 in 2004-5 to 19‚059 in 2007-8.

 

 

 

 

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