Telford care home placed in special measures as bosses told to make 'rapid improvements'

The Farmstead Nursing Home's rating has dropped from 'good' to 'inadequate' following a visit by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The care home on Bryce Way has also been placed in special measures, which means it will be kept under close review by the CQC and re-inspected to check on the progress of the improvements it has been told to make through re-inspection.

Run by Sandstone Care Telford Limited, the care home provides personal and nursing care and supports older people, as well as younger adults, people with dementia, physical disabilities and sensory impairments.

An unannounced inspection – which took place between December 1 and December 7 ­— was partly prompted due to concerns about medicines, how the service supported people's health and care needs and poor engagement with community professionals.

Amanda Lyndon, CQC deputy director of operations in the midlands, said: “When we visited The Farmstead, we were disappointed to find leaders had failed to make sure staff understood what they needed to do, to provide the safe and effective care, that people deserve.

“During our inspection, we saw that people weren’t always treated in a compassionate way, and people had mixed experiences of how caring staff were.

“We also found that, people weren’t protected against the risk of harm as staff didn’t always speak up about poor practice.

"We noted that staff had witnessed abuse but hadn’t taken appropriate action when needed. Leaders should work to create an environment where staff feel supported to report these issues.

“The Farmstead also failed to make sure people’s rights were protected and that staff understood under the Mental Capacity Act.

“We saw that people weren’t always involved in decisions about their care and control of their lives.

"We saw someone having a decision made for them about what they should eat for lunch, and others who expressed a preference about the gender of their carer but weren’t always supported with this preference.

"However, we did see people were supported to follow their interests and take part in activities if they wished to.

“We’ve told the provider where they must make rapid improvements and we’ll continue to monitor it closely to ensure people are safe. If we don’t see these improvements, we will not hesitate to take further action.”

As well as the overall rating for the service dropping from 'good' to 'inadequate', the ratings have also dropped from 'good' to 'inadequate' for how safe and effective the service is.

It has declined from 'requires improvement' to 'inadequate' for how well-led it is, and from 'good' to 'requires improvement' for how caring and responsive it is.

In response to CQC's findings, a spokesperson for The Farmstead said: “We are very disappointed by the CQC’s assessment of our home.

“For a service previously rated as Good, we are working extremely hard in partnership with the CQC and our local authority to return it to that status and beyond as quickly as we can.

“There were a number of positive points contained in the report including that ‘most people were happy with the care and support they received and gave us positive feedback about the staff at the home’, ‘most people told us they felt safe when receiving care from staff and they got support when they needed it’ and ‘in newly updated care plans we saw the use of national best practice tools to assess and plan people’s needs’.

“Since the home was inspected in early December we have instigated several changes, including appointing a new manager, deputy manager and clinical lead.

“This is all part of our commitment to providing our residents with the highest possible standard of person-centred care.”

Inspectors found the following during this inspection:

• Staff did not always use the training they’d been given or follow the systems in place to keep people safe

• People were at risk of poor health outcomes because staff did not always make referrals to external health care professionals in a timely manner

• Policies to protect people from abuse were in place but not always followed

• People were placed at risk of harm because the provider failed to ensure people's medicines were managed and stored safely

• The provider had a complaints procedure in place, but this was not always followed

• Improvements were needed to ensure people's end of life wishes were discussed and recorded.

However, inspectors found that:

• People were supported to maintain relationships with the important people in their lives – people told the CQC they were supported to keep in contact with their families

• People told inspectors they enjoyed the activities which took place at the home

On one occasion a guest singer was invited into the home and staff had taken a recording so people who could not be there in person, could watch in their own room.

The report will be published on the website in the next few days.