The Care Quality Commission (CQC), has downgraded the rating of St Thomas’ Priory in Staffordshire from requires improvement to inadequate and placed it into special measures to protect people following an inspection in August.
St Thomas’ Priory, run by Rugeley Invest Ltd, is a residential care home providing nursing care and support to adults of all ages, including adults with physical disabilities, mental health issues and people living with dementia.
CQC carried out this inspection as part of its routine monitoring of services. Inspectors found three breaches of regulation related to dignity and respect, safe care and treatment, and good management. CQC issued the home with three warning notices to focus their attention on making rapid and widespread improvements in these areas.
CQC has downgraded the ratings for how safe, caring and well-led the service is from requires improvement to inadequate. How effective and responsive it is, have again been rated requires improvement.
CQC has placed the service in special measures, which means it will be kept under close review to keep people safe while improvements are made.
Amanda Lyndon, CQC deputy director of adult social care in Staffordshire, said:
“We were concerned to find the quality of care had deteriorated since our previous visit to St Thomas’ Priory. The home’s staff and leaders needed to focus more on providing people with person-centred care that respected their dignity, and leaders needed to make sure staffing levels were adequate on all floors of the home.
“While people told us they liked living in the home and staff respected their choices and decisions around daily routines, we found that care didn’t meet our expected standards of safety.
“During our inspection, we found staff didn’t always keep care plans up-to-date to make sure they aligned with people’s current needs. This put people at risk of receiving ineffective care, negatively impacting their health and wellbeing. They also didn’t make sure plans reflected people’s goals, preferences and identities.
“We found it concerning to see staff didn’t always provide care that respected people’s dignity. While staff showed kindness and people told us about positive experiences they had, we found two concerning examples of infantilising language, failures to respect people’s wishes and lack of discretion. For example, we saw staff speak loudly about people’s toilet use with them and colleagues in communal areas on two occasions.
“Our inspection also reflected what relatives had told us, that although staff were helpful and supportive, leaders didn’t ensure that the top floor of the home had an adequate number of staff. Staff expressed concerns about high workload levels and not having enough time to engage with people.
“We were encouraged to see leaders act on feedback during the inspection and start to implement improvements. We have told them where improvements are needed and will continue to monitor the service to ensure people are safe while this happens.”
Inspectors found:
- Leaders didn’t consistently make sure that people received safe care in St Thomas’ Priory. They didn’t have effective systems in place to manage risks, incidents and safeguarding concerns.
- Most staff encouraged people to take part in activities and make choices, but this wasn’t consistent across the service. Some people on the top floor couldn’t access many of the activities provided, especially those with mobility or behavioural needs.
- Staff completed behavioural charts when people experienced distressed incidents, but they didn’t always review or follow up on these records. This placed people at risk of similar incidents happening again.
- Two people who couldn’t support themselves to get out of bed remained there for long periods. When inspectors asked staff why this was, they couldn’t provide a clear explanation.
- Staff and leaders didn’t investigate or report safety events to identify lessons and opportunities to improve the service or stop incidents from happening again.
- The home didn’t have all the equipment it needed to support people safely, including pressure-relieving cushions.
However:
- People told inspectors staff supported them when they had accidents and falls.