Chesterfield care home rated ‘inadequate’ by Care Quality Commission

CQC carried out an inspection in November, prompted in part due to concerns received about safety, infection control and management of the service.

Elmwood House is a nursing home providing care for up to 32 people. The service supports adults with learning disabilities and is split into four living areas across three floors. At the time of the inspection, 23 people were living there.

Following this inspection, the home’s overall rating has dropped from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘inadequate’. It has also dropped from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘inadequate’ for being safe and well-led. Caring has dropped from good to requires improvement.

The service is now in special measures which means it will be kept under review, by CQC and re-inspected to check improvements have been made.

Debbie Ivanova, CQC’s director for people with a learning disability and autistic people, said: “When we inspected Elmwood House, we found that the standard of care had deteriorated since our last inspection in June. It was unacceptable that people’s decisions about how they wanted their care and support delivered wasn’t always respected.

“Staff didn’t always use respectful language which people understood and responded well to. During our inspection we overheard inappropriate conversations between staff about people, in front of them, which was totally disrespectful. However, the provider took immediate action and investigated our concerns, after they were highlighted.

“The environment didn’t always promote people’s safety. Someone had asked for things to be fixed in their bedroom, but this hadn’t happened, such as a broken aerial which had been snapped at the socket. They also had a leak in their bathroom ceiling.

“Additionally, not all areas within the home were well maintained to facilitate good infection and control procedures. Some areas of the home such as walls, doors, skirting and paint work were in a poor state. This prevented good cleaning practices and increased the risk of infection.

“There was no oversight of medicine errors within the service. During our inspection, we identified medicine errors which hadn’t been reported or investigated. A lack of system to report, record and investigate medicine errors placed people at risk of harm.

“People were at risk of harm as there was a lack of protection to prevent unnecessary restraint. Also, the service didn’t always record when staff restrained people and there was no monitoring of restraint in order for staff to learn from the use of restraint and consider how it could be reduced.

“However, most relatives described long standing staff members as kind and caring. One said, “Some staff have been there a while and are brilliant. Two in particular go above and beyond.”

“As the service has been rated inadequate and placed in special measures. We will continue to monitor it closely to ensure people are safe. If we are not assured people are receiving safe care, we will not hesitate to take action in line with our regulatory powers as no one should have to live in a service that cannot meet their needs.”

The Derbyshire Times contacted Elmwood House about the inspection but they declined to respond.