Shropshire care home ordered to improve standards

Doddington Lodge, based in Cleobury Mortimer, near Ludlow, was found to require improvement in all five categories following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

The inspection was carried out on September 15 and 21 and was unannounced.

Doddington Lodge provides accommodation and personal care for up to 41 people, some of whom are living with dementia. At the time of the inspection there were 36 people living at the home.

The report stated: "The service lacked effective leadership and people did not have their medicines as prescribed by their doctor.

"People were not always treated with dignity and respect. Staff were unable to care for people in a way that consistently met their needs. People were left anxious and distressed. The provider had not considered people's right to privacy when they used their own bedrooms."

Inspectors were also critical that staff did not have adequate support and supervision to implement what they had learnt through training.

The report said: "Staff had access to training that was appropriate to their roles. However, staff did not have adequate support and supervision to implement what they had learnt effectively.

"There were no regular staff meetings and no systems in place to keep staff informed of what was going on and best practice in the home.

"There was a system in place to make to respond and deal with complaints. However, concerns raised by staff about people's care were not acted upon appropriately."

The report did point out that people felt the staff were caring and they responded quickly when they asked for support.

Oldbury Grange Nursing Home, in Bridgnorth, and Oswestry Care Limited, in Oswestry, were also inspected by the CQC, and were found to be 'good' in all five areas – safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led.

Sue Howard, deputy chief inspector for adult social care in the central region, said: "People are entitled to services which provide safe, effective, compassionate and high-quality care. If that is what we find on inspection, we give the service a rating of 'good' or 'outstanding'.

"Where we find that services are not good enough, we will give a rating of 'requires improvement' or 'inadequate'. If we find that a service requires improvement, we will expect them to provide us with a full plan setting out how they will address the issue."

Nobody from Doddington Lodge was available for comment.