Care home ‘extremely upset’ after being put in special measures

A care home for the elderly has been criticised by the health watchdog after residents were found not to be safe – and ‘at risk of avoidable harm’.

Meavy View Retirement Home in Rochdale has been deemed to be ‘inadequate’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Inspectors visited the Milkstone Road site between 18 April and 19 April.

“At our last inspection we found that bathing and shower seats did not have lap belts,” an inspection report read. “The provider told us they would seek advice from an appropriate professional about safety belts.

“During our walk round at this inspection, we found lap belts were still not in place. The shower chair was also rusty.

“We found two radiator covers not secured to the wall and there were 14 wardrobes that were not fixed to the walls.”

The report also highlighted issues with fire risk assessments. ‘Large amounts of combustible materials’ were found ‘stored in three rooms in the basement’, according to the CQC.

Water temperatures were found to be very low and ‘outside of safe levels’.

Inspectors praised the care provided. Staff were found to be ‘very attentive’ and worked well together as a team.

The last rating for the service was ‘requires improvement’ in November 2022.

Registered manager Sharon Peake said: “We are extremely upset about the report, in the last two years since I became manager at Meavy View, myself and the team have worked extremely hard to get this care home up and compliant. The report does not reflect the hard work that has gone in and especially how happy our residents are.

“The care team are really upset by this result, as the hard work they have completed has not been recognised in this report. But still, the staff are willing to pull together again to improve even further.”

She claimed issues raised by inspectors have been addressed. The home’s recruitment system is more robust and staff have been safely vetted and checked.

The home was deemed to be:

• ‘Inadequate’ overall
• ‘Inadequate’ in the ‘safe’ category
• ‘Requires improvement’ in the ‘effective’ category
• ‘Good’ in the ‘caring’ category
• ‘Responsive’ in the ‘requires improvement’ category
• ‘Inadequate’ in the ‘well-led’ category

Following the inspection report being published online on 28 June, the CQC said: “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.”

George Lythgoe, Local Democracy Reporter