The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Restgarth Care Home in Looe, Cornwall as inadequate and has taken urgent action to protect people following an inspection in September.
Restgarth Care Home is a care home for up to 32 older people, some of whom are living with dementia, run by Orange Care Restgarth Limited.
CQC carried out the inspection as this was the first inspection since the service had been registered with the current owner.
CQC has rated Restgarth Care Home as inadequate for being safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well-led.
Following the inspection, CQC imposed urgent conditions on the home’s registration. These require leaders to make immediate improvements to people’s safety and to update CQC monthly on how risks are being reduced. These conditions also prevent Restgarth Care Home from admitting new people or re-admitting previous people without CQC’s permission.
CQC has also placed the service into special measures, which involves close monitoring to ensure people are safe while improvements are made. Special measures also provide a structured timeframe so services understand when they need to make improvements by, and what action CQC will take if this does not happen.
Stefan Kallee, CQC deputy director of adult social care in Cornwall said:
“When we inspected Restgarth Care Home, we found leaders weren’t managing the home well putting people at serious risk of harm.
“We found people were being left without support for unacceptably long periods during the day. Our inspectors reviewed CCTV footage which showed one person was taken to the dining room for breakfast at 9am, then left in their chair until 6pm without any further support. This is completely unacceptable and places people at serious risk of neglect and harm.
“Care plans were incomplete and out of date, which meant staff didn’t have the information they needed to support people properly. One person had been identified as being at risk of weight loss by a dietician, but records indicated they hadn’t eaten breakfast for six days in a row. There was no guidance for staff on how to encourage them to eat, and they hadn’t been weighed for two months despite care plans stating this should happen monthly.
“We also found people weren’t being supported with basic dignity and respect. Systems to monitor people’s skin integrity to avoid things like pressure sores weren’t working. Following our inspection, staff checked people and found six individuals with redness that appeared to be due to poor continence care.
“Leaders had identified areas for improvement but actions to address these had not been effective and the same poor practices kept happening. Throughout the inspection, staff told us they felt unable to raise concerns because when they had raised issues previously, these were dismissed or ignored.
“We’ve shared our findings with Restgarth Care Home and imposed urgent conditions on its registration to focus attention on making rapid improvements. We’ll continue to monitor the home closely while this happens to ensure people are kept safe.”
Inspectors found:
- There was not a permanent manager for the service. Managers from two sister homes supported the service remotely but rarely visited. The deputy manager lacked sufficient time to complete essential managerial tasks, such as reviewing care plans.
- Staff gave a person medication that contained an animal product, even though the person said they were vegetarian. Staff didn’t know the medication’s ingredients, and the care plan didn’t show the person had made an informed decision to take it.
- Staff left the kitchen dirty, with sticky floors and unswept areas beneath the units.
- They didn’t carry out scheduled deep cleans, and one staff member said the kitchen hadn’t been deep cleaned for about a year.
- Leaders didn’t support staff properly. They failed to carry out regular supervisions, The report will be published on CQC’s website in the coming days.