'There is no time to give people a wash': Inadequate care home has just months to improve or could be shut down

Staffing levels at Parklands Court Care Home, Park Road, Bloxwich, have been criticised in a CQC report which saw inspectors rate the home as ‘inadequate’ overall.

The home is split into different units and can accommodate for up to 163 people, but inspectors noted that care quality varied across each unit, with inspectors noting that in the area designated for dementia patients, people had been found sleeping in the beds of other residents.

• READ the CQC report here

The report reads: "The provider had insufficient numbers of staff effectively deployed across all the different units at the home to ensure people were safe.

"Staff on three of the units told us insufficient staff impacted on providing personal care and meeting people's hydration and nutritional needs.

"One staff member explained, "We have to go straight from breakfast into turning people, so there is no time to give people a wash."

"People's experiences of care depended on which unit they lived on.

"Whilst some people's experiences were positive, other people experienced a level of care that fell below recognised standards and did not promote their health and wellbeing."

The home was rated inadequate overall, however it only received that grade for its safety and leadership, with effectiveness, care and responsivess all being deemed to 'require improvement'.

Inspectors expressed particular concern for patients safety after finding a resident asleep in another person's room.

The report reads:"On the second day of our visit we saw a person asleep on the bed in another person's room.

"We alerted staff who immediately supported the person to move to their own bedroom.

"However, when we looked at this person's daily records, we saw they had slept in the same person's bedroom for several hours on the previous day and staff had left them there.

"When we looked at the records of the person whose room they had slept in, we saw they were independently mobile and could display some agitated behaviours and aggression.

"One of the triggers to this aggression was, "[Name] does not like their personal space being invaded by others."

Bosses at the home, which is run by Bupa, will now have six months to make improvements in order to bring it out of special measures.

Steve Hamblett, regional director for Bupa Care Services, which runs the home, said: “We’ve made significant changes since the inspection three months ago.

“We’ve recruited over 10 new team members – so we now have a full care team.”