Struggling Stourbridge care home 'not employing suitably qualified staff'
A care home which does not employ ‘suitably qualified, competent, skilled staff’ and saw its registered manager suspended shortly before an inspection, has been told to improve
The Mount Residential Home, in Brettell Lane, Stourbridge, has been rated ‘requires improvement’ overall by Care Quality Commission inspectors who visited the home earlier this year.
The home’s leadership was given the bottom rating of ‘inadequate’, while its safety, effectiveness, care and responsiveness were rated as ‘requires improvement’.
The report said: “There was a risk that people were not being kept safe from harm.
"Staff we spoke with confirmed information from accidents and incidents had not always been shared with them.
The provider was not able to show how they reviewed people’s incidents and accidents to share learning and improve care for people.
“The registered provider did not ensure sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled staff were deployed. This was a breach of Regulation 18(1) HSCA 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.
“The registered manager was absent at the time of the inspection as they had been suspended.
A deputy manager had been promoted and had been placed in a management position the same week of the inspection.
"A number of key staff, including the previous deputy manager and care staff had recently resigned their positions in recent weeks.
“At the time of the inspection, a number of key staff had recently left that included the deputy manager and some care staff.
"A number of new staff were being introduced to the home. Two staff we spoke with told us they had received training in their previous role as care staff but not since working at the home.
“Two staff we spoke with told us support to people was limited to task based care and opportunities to offer emotional support were not possible because they were so busy.
“People’s privacy was not always respected. We saw people’s care plans were stored in an unlocked cupboard within the hallway of the home.
"We saw throughout the day staff use the files and return them to the cupboard. We drew this to the registered provider’s attention and asked that the files could be stored more securely.
“Staff reported feeling unsettled and that morale was low following recent staffing changes at the home.”
The Mount Residential Home refused to comment when approached by the Express & Star.
