'Unsafe' care home slated by inspectors and given six months to improve in damning report

An inspector from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out an unannounced eight-day inspection of Caradoc House Residential Care Home, in Little Stretton, in the summer in response to concerns over the quality of care.

"People were not safe," said the hard-hitting 15-page report.

"The provider failed to ensure substances hazardous to health were safely stored, firefighting equipment was readily available or that window restrictors were in place on all windows.

"The provider did not effectively analyse significant incidents to learn from them and to make changes to improve people's safety. The provider's infection prevention and control procedures were not effectively followed."

Caradoc House provides support with accommodation and personal care for up to 11 people. At the time of the inspection 10 people were receiving accommodation and personal care, some of whom were living with dementia.

The report also said that "people were not always treated with dignity or respect".

It continued: "Confidential information was not secured and was accessible to those without authority. People's personal property was not safely or appropriately stored."

The care home in Ludlow Road was provided and run by Kevindale Residential Care Home, with Kenneth Nones Andal named as the registered manager.

Mr Andal was criticised for not being a "positive example of interaction and engagement with people and did not value people's personal space".

"People were not protected from ill-treatment or abuse as the provider did not have robust systems in place to safeguard people," the report added.

Failings with the way medicines were stored and given were also found. There were failings with having enough suitably qualified staff deployed at all times.

However some people were "complementary about he staff who supported them on a day to day basis who they found to be kind and caring".

Also on the positive side people were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives.

"Staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible or in their best interests; the application of policies and systems in the service supported best practice," said the report. There were also found to be safe recruitment practices.

Last year the home was rated 'requires improvement'.

A spokesperson for 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. This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions the registration."

The care home operator has been invited to comment.