Care home kept in special measures after being hit with yet another damning inspection

A care home in Rochdale remains in special measures after a damning report from inspectors highlighted unaddressed trip hazards and choking risks.

Meavy View care home was rated as inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in April 2023, and following an inspection in January and February 2024 they have retained the same rating. The CQC kept the Milkstone Road site in special measures again ’to protect people’ which means it will be kept under close review by the health watchdog.

The provider has been rated as either requires improvement or inadequate at the last five inspections.
 

Read more: Care home ‘extremely upset’ after being put in special measuresPublished: 05 July 2023

As well as the home being re-rated as ‘inadequate’ overall, so have the ratings for being safe and well-led. The rating categories of effective and responsive have again been rated as ‘requires improvement’, and caring has been re-rated as ‘good’.

The report, published on 5 April, highlighted gaps in patient risk assessments, mistakes in medicine management, lack of protection from infection risks and poor staff management. Two major problems highlighted by inspectors were a fallen fence designed to protect residents becoming a trip hazard and a thickening powder being incorrectly added to one resident’s drink for four months – causing a choking risk.

Alison Chilton, CQC deputy director of operations in the north, said: “When we inspected Meavy View Retirement Home, we were deeply concerned to find significant improvements hadn’t been made since the previous inspection last year. The provider still wasn’t effectively monitoring the quality of care being provided in order to drive improvements across the home to ensure it was a safe place for people to live.

“We found people’s care plans lacked detail or were incorrect. For example, where people required a modified diet, we found care plans and risk assessments were either inaccurate or lacked detail.

“Thickening powder, used to manage people’s risk of choking, had been incorrectly added to someone’s drinks for four months as a result of inaccurate record keeping, which is totally unacceptable.

“Inspectors found the control panel in the lift was loose and coming away from the wall, which was a potential risk to people, as they could come to harm if they put their fingers in it. This was reported to the registered manager, however no action was taken to make it safe during the inspection.

“Additionally, a fence had fallen down and was left on the ground. The purpose of the fence was to protect people from a drop to a lower level, and it also now presented a trip hazard.

“However, people spoke positively about the staff who worked at the home.

“We’ve told leaders at Meavy View Retirement Home to take urgent action on the issues we found and we’ll be monitoring this service closely to ensure people are kept safe in future. We’ve also taken further enforcement action and will report on this when we’re legally able to do so.”

The report did highlight positives from the care home’s service, including their involvement with local organisations and community groups. This included school children visiting the home to sing to someone on their birthday, and a local church choir visiting the home at Christmas.
 

Read more: Vulnerable care home residents’ safety was put at risk by lax security measures, health watchdog findsPublished: 03 December 2020

In response to the report, Meavy View’s registered manager Sharon Peake said: “Improvements across the home had been made by the provider Mr Alam including new windows, carpets, and four lounges decorated, and there is still an improvement plan in place to make more improvements.

“(The thickening powder issue) was due to lack of communication from the senior care staff, some that no longer work at Meavy View anymore. Once this error was found I rectified the risk assessment straight away, we now have a deputy manager in place who is communicating and passing all the information that is required to myself so we can keep on top of the record keeping.

“We are using a new system called CMS and it’s taken some time to get all the details on but everything has been updated now.

“(The lift issue) was reported to myself and Mr Alam. Mr Alam did phone the lift company as soon as it was mentioned during the inspection.

“We as a home are working hard to make these improvements, as we are working closely with Rochdale Council and the CQC.”

George Lythgoe, Local Democracy Reporter