Telford care home placed in special measures

Birkdale Residential Home in Oakengates was rated 'inadequate' by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after breaching regulations, and an inspection showed there were concerns over safety.

Inspectors also said people were not offered regular showers and baths, they noted issues with medication and stressed that not enough was being done to protect a resident who had fallen several times.

A recently published CQC report said the service will be kept under review and is expected to be inspected again within six months.

Read the full CQC report on Birkdale Residential Home here

It said: "The expectation is that providers found to have been providing inadequate care should have made significant improvements within this timeframe.

"If not enough improvement is made within this timeframe so that there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service.

"This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration within six months if they do not improve.

"This service will continue to be kept under review and, if needed, could be escalated to urgent enforcement action."

Inspectors said they found six breaches of regulations of the Health and Social Care Act.

The care home, which was inspected in November, was given an overall rating of "inadequate".

The report said one person had recently fallen at night and received a head injury and records showed they had fallen several times over an eight month period.

However, inspectors said although a brighter light had been installed in their ensuite no other action had been taken to minimise the risk of this person falling at night time.

The report said: "This meant that risks of harm to this person were not being reduced and lessons were not being learned following accidents and incidents."

Inspectors noted infection control issues and said the cook was seen not wearing protective clothing when cooking, while food dropped onto the dining room floor by several people at breakfast was left there all day.

They said fire tests were not always being carried out as regularly as they should and several fire doors were propped open or could not close properly in the event of a fire.

The report also said that people were not being offered or having regular baths and showers and people's medicines were not always administered safely.

Inspectors said there were sufficient numbers of staff however they were not always deployed safely.

Birkdale Residential Home, in Station Hill, provides accommodation and personal care for up to 27 people.

Michelle Hughes, deputy manager at the care home, said the issues raised by the CQC were concerning but an action plan was immediately put in place and issues are being addressed.

She said the care home was being supported by the area manager, property owner and organisations such as Skills for Care to provide staff training.