A Brighton nursing home has been rated “inadequate” by the official health and care watchdog, the Care Quality Commission, and placed in “special measures”.
The CQC gave the lowest grading to Partridge House Nursing and Residential Care Home, between Heath Hill Avenue and Leybourne Road, in Bevendean.
The home caters for up to 38 older people “with increasing physical frailty, many living with dementia or other mental health needs”.
If it does not improve, it may lose its registration and be forced to close.
At the time of the inspection, in April, 37 people were staying at the home. The CQC report said: “People’s dignity and independence was not always promoted. On the day of our inspection there were sufficient staff to support people.
“The provider relied heavily on agency staff and this had impacted on people’s experience of the care they received.
“People were not always protected from the risks of harm, abuse or discrimination.
“It was clear the induction given to agency staff to familiarise themselves with the service and the people living there was not robust.
“People were not treated with compassion and there were breaches of dignity. Staff caring attitudes had significant shortfalls.
“We observed some staff supporting people in a kind, caring and respectful way.
“However, we saw other examples of staff sitting in silence on their phones in lounges for significant periods of time, rather than interacting and assisting people.
“In one lounge/dining area, inappropriate and explicit music was played for over 40 minutes until a member of staff noticed and changed the music to reflect the kind of music people living at the service identified with.
“The provider had failed to ensure people were treated with dignity and respect.
“While some activities were available, there were a significant number of people who were not occupied in a meaningful activity throughout the day.
“For example, we observed people sat in lounges for substantial periods of time with no entertainment, other than watching television or listening to music.
“On several occasions, staff did not notice the music had stopped or that the television was not playing a show.
“People spent several hours sitting at tables, or in armchairs, with minimal interaction from staff. It was clear that people were not engaged or entertained throughout the day.
“We saw no specific provision of activities for people who chose to stay in their room. A relative told us, ‘They don’t do anything with him. They just bring his food in and that’s it.’
“This was echoed by another relative who told us their loved one was often bored and did not have their interests catered for.”
The CQC referred to it previous inspection report, which was published in July last year, and said: “The last rating for this service was ‘requires improvement’. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.
“At this inspection we found the provider remained in breach of regulations. This service had been rated requires improvement for the last two consecutive inspections. After this inspection, the rating for this service has changed to ‘inadequate’.
“At our last inspection we recommended the provider sought support and guidance locally and nationally to improve the environment of the service in order to make it more dementia friendly. At this inspection we found that improvements had not been made.
“The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about staffing levels and care delivery.
A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements.
“The overall rating for this service is ‘inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures’.
“This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider’s registration, we will re-inspect within six months to check for significant improvements.
“If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe and there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures.
“This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service.
“This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions the registration.
“For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months.
“If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect it and it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions it will no longer be in special measures.”
The five key measures or questions were: “Is the service safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?”
As well as an overall rating of inadequate, the home, run by a company called Tradstir, “requires improvement” in terms of being safe and effective. The CQC said that it was “inadequate” for being caring, responsive and well-led.
I feel so sad for the people who live here, and for the staff who really do care.
We need to value caring as a profession to be proud of, not just be grateful for someone, anyone, to ‘cover a shift’.
It’s disgraceful that the staff and management do not take their job seriously when looking after elderly people at the later years of their lives. Imagine if it was their parents in the home being neglected. The home should be fined and closed if it cannot provide a decent standard of care to residents. These places charge enough to house the residents. The least they can do is provide adequate care.