Staffordshire care home rated 'inadequate' and placed in special measures

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited Seaton Court in Burntwood in March and their full findings have been published today.

It was prompted in part due to concerns received about staffing levels, how risks to people were managed, as well as an incident where a person using the service sustained a serious injury and died.

The CQC is assessing whether it needs to take any further regulatory action in relation to that incident.

Inspectors found people's safety was not appropriately managed.

There were issues with medicines not always being managed appropriately, insufficient staff to meet people's needs and staff not consistently following guidance for preventing the spread of infection at the care home.

People were not supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives, inspectors said, and people's needs and care plans were 'not understood by staff'.

As well as the overall rating dropping from good to inadequate following this inspection, the ratings have declined from good to inadequate for how safe and well-led the service is.

The ratings for being caring, effective and responsive to people’s needs have dropped from 'good' to 'requires improvement'.

The service is now in special measures, which means it will be kept under close review by the CQC and reinspected to check sufficient improvements have been made.

If it fails to improve, it could be closed down.

Andy Brand, CQC deputy director of operations in the Midlands, said: “When we inspected Seaton Court, it was concerning that the care being provided wasn’t of the standard that people should be able to expect.

“Leaders didn’t implement effective systems to ensure people were safe. People weren’t always protected from potential abuse and neglect as systems didn’t show where incidents might have occurred, and they hadn’t been investigated or referred to appropriate services when people were at risk of harm.

“Additionally, we identified several incidents which hadn’t been identified as possible abuse or neglect.

"For example, one person had a scald from a hot drink given to them by staff - this wasn’t investigated, and nothing had been done to prevent it from happening again.

“People's dignity wasn’t maintained; their independence wasn’t promoted, and they didn’t feel like staff listened to them."

He added: "People were left in bed all day without having their personal care needs met.

"One person had a large stain on their nightwear, they told us they had spilled a drink the day before and they hadn’t been able to change their clothing.

"Another person told us they had raised concerns about insects in their room which was distressing them, however after telling staff, nothing had been done to address the problem.

“Following our inspection, we reported our findings to the provider, so they know the areas where we expect to see rapid improvement. If sufficient progress has not been made, we will not hesitate to take further action to ensure people’s safety and wellbeing.”

The care home provides accommodation and personal care for up to 68 people and was providing care for 31 people at the time of the inspection.

Outlining the next steps, the CQC report said: "We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress.

"We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

"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 reinspect 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."

Seaton Court has been contacted for comment.