St Agnes Care home is not meeting 14 out of 16 essential standards.

Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors who visited the St Agnes Care Home in Silverbirch Road, Erdington, Birmingham found that it was failing to meet 14 out of 16 essential standards of quality and safety.

Providers of care services have a legal responsibility to make sure they are meeting all the essential standards of quality and safety.

The inspectors visited the home in January following a serious incident which resulted in the death of a service user, which is being investigated by the police. Since then CQC has been working closely with the local council, the police and St Agnes to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people living in the home.

The CQC report, which is published today, highlights eight main areas of concern:

Safe and appropriate care

Inspectors found that people who use services did not always experience safe and appropriate care, treatment and support that met their needs and protected their rights. Failure to recognise and respond to risks and challenging behaviour has placed people at risk.

Safeguarding people from abuse

Staff and managers at the home did not have the knowledge, skills, training and awareness to ensure people with very different needs were cared for safely together.

Management of medicines

Medication management in the home is poor and places people at risk.

The care environment

The heating and call bell facilities in the home need to be improved to ensure the safety and comfort of people living in the home.

Staff numbers

People living in the home were not always fully supported by the right number of staff at the right time to meet their needs. This placed them at risk.

Staff training and supervision

Staff are not adequately trained or supported to meet the needs of people with complex physical and mental health needs.

Managing risks

Systems for assessing and monitoring the quality of service provision are not effective.

Record keeping

People using this service cannot be confident that personal records are accurate or fit for purpose. Records required to protect safety and wellbeing, such as training records, were not adequately maintained and therefore did not contribute effectively to service development.

CQC Regional Director Andrea Gordon said: "As well as these eight major concerns, we also found that the home needed to make improvements in other areas.

"For example, people were not always respected or involved in day-to-day decisions about how their care is provided or asked for their consent before they are given examinations, care or treatment. In addition, people in the home could not be confident that they were getting the right food and drink and we found that people did not always get safe and coordinated care when they moved between services.

"The quality and safety of care provided at this home is simply not good enough. Our inspectors will return to the home in the near future and if we find that they are not making progress we will consider further action.

"We have a range of enforcement powers we can use, including prosecution, closure, or restriction of services."

Any regulatory decision that CQC takes is open to challenge by a registered person through a variety of internal and external appeal processes.

Source:
Care Quality Commission