Care home which did not flag up police incident in special measures

Leighswood, Lichfield Road, Rushall, has been rated inadequate by health watchdog the Care Quality Commission.

Some reports of residents being in accidents or incidents were not always completed, the report says.

It adds: "Staff completed reports when a person had been involved in an incident or accident.

"However, some reports were not always completed, for example, for one person in relation to an incident involving the police.

"Information was analysed to understand themes which may prevent reoccurrence."

And a check of equipment was carried out in November, but it had due to be undertaken in April 2019, so for almost seven months the equipment may not have been safe for residents or staff to use.

The report adds: "One person had fallen in November 2019 and injured themselves resulting in a visit to hospital.

"The incident form completed by staff described their bedside table as the likely cause of this as this was 'very unsteady'.

"The failure to ensure this furniture was safe, exposed this person to the risk of avoidable harm and this had not been identified in checks of the environment completed."

But the report says people were generally happy living at the home and the service and staff.

At the time of the inspection on November 20 people were using the service, most of whom had dementia.

The inspection was brought forward due to concerns raised by the local authority, the report says.

The care home was rated inadequate in two areas and requires improvement in three.

Since February 2016 Leighswood has been inspected on six occasions. Each time the overall rating has been inadequate or requires improvement.

A spokesman for Leighswood said: "The proprietor, management and healthcare staff are disappointed to have received an overall rating for our service provided to our service users / residents, as "Inadequate", as the report clearly defines three key lines of enquiry,as requiring improvement, therefore not considered inadequate, in the report.

"The care home which has been a family run business for in excess of 30 years, has been involved in consultation with care professionals from the the Local authority, the community team and stakeholders, well ahead of the publication of the inspection conducted on 18th. November 2019 .All issues as raised in the report have been dealt with, whilst we are working towards the completion of an overall action plan and development programme, with the knowledge and support of the Local Authority and the Care Quality Commission CQC.

"The proprietor and management look forward to our next inspection and an increase in our published ratings."