Shrewsbury care home where residents 'not always treated with respect' told to improve
A Shrewsbury care home where residents were "not always treated with dignity and respect" has been told it must improve by a watchdog.
Lymehurst, in Ellesmere Road, was visited by Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors unannounced, and was told it required improvement in all areas.
The report says that the service, which specialises in caring for people with dementia, was not consistently safe, and the kitchen hygiene put people at risk.
It adds: "People's needs were not always met in a timely manner due to the deployment of staff. Risks associated with staff employed by the service had not been minimised."
People were left for "periods of time" in the communal areas with no staff support or supervision, and one person who had been assessed as being at high risk of falls and had recently fell and injured themselves was "constantly getting up and down and walking around the home" unsupervised, the report says.
Inspectors heard one person calling for staff for help to go to the toilet, they shouted "I'm desperate please help me".
But the registered manager followed the local safeguarding procedures.
Lymehurst was not consistently effective, according to the report.
It says people were offered sufficient amounts of food and drinks, however they were not offered a choice of food or involved in the menu planning.
Complaints
Their needs were not fully assessed, and people were not fully supported by staff.
The service was not consistently caring, and "people were not always treated with dignity and respect", according to the report.
People were not always receiving personalised care that met their individual needs and the service was not consistently responsive, the report adds.
It says: "People did not have access to the complaints procedure in an accessible format and their complaints were not always acted upon.
But people's end of life wishes had been gained.
There were no systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service and the registered manager had identified areas for improvement however had not had the allocated time to implement new systems.
The report says that people and the staff liked the registered manager and said she was responsive and supportive.
But the service was not consistently well-led.
Lymehurst provides accommodation and personal care for up to 35 people. At the time of the inspection on August 23, there were 31 people in the care home.
The care home was previously rated "good" at its last CQC inspection in December 2015.
Lymehurst was contacted by the Shropshire Star to comment.
