Residents of a large care home in Halewood were placed “at risk of avoidable harm”, the care watchdog has found.
Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated Arncliffe Court Care Home “inadequate” after they found numerous failings in infection control, management of medicines and leadership.
Problems included staff wearing masks under their chins while working at the care home and failing to follow procedures for checking visitors for signs of Covid-19, potentially placing residents at risk of catching the virus.
Arncliffe Court has now been placed in special measures and will be reinspected within six months to check for improvements. The care home's owner, Advinia Healthcare, said it "fully accepted" the report and had already taken steps to address the problems highlighted by the CQC.
Located in Arncliffe Road, Halewood, the care home has 97 residents but can support up to 150 people, including those living with dementia.
The CQC inspectors noted that while “the majority of people we spoke to told us that they felt safe living in the home”, there were “concerns in relation to people’s safety and leadership of the home”.
Medicines were not being managed safely, with “a significant number of people” not receiving their prescribed medication over a six week period because the items were not in stock.
The inspectors said in their report: “This had not been acted on by staff, and the management in home had not been made aware of this.
“The potential impact of not having these medications may reduce the effectiveness of the medicine, increase the risk of withdrawal symptoms or have a detrimental effect on people’s mental or physical health.”
Inspectors also noted that residents’ needs and risks had not been properly assessed or mitigated and there were gaps in residents’ medical records.
In terms of preventing the spread of Covid-19, the inspectors said they were “not assured that the provider was preventing visitors from catching and spreading infections”.
They noted staff not using PPE effectively, including “staff with masks under their chins whilst working on the units”, and said they had been told to take their own temperatures on arrival but no members of staff asked for the results.
The inspection report said: “This indicated a lack of oversight of visitors to the home as inspectors arrived at two different times during the day.”
Other problems included a reliance on agency staff, concerns about understaffing and “significant shortfalls in service leadership” at the home, which has had several managers over the last two years.
Arncliffe Court has been operated by Advinia Healthcare, which has almost 40 care homes across the country.
Advinia took over Arncliffe Court in 2017, and a year later the home received an “inadequate” rating from the CQC. It then recovered slightly, receiving a “requires improvement” rating six months later, but has again deteriorated.
A spokesperson for Advinia Healthcare said: "The safety and wellbeing of our residents is always our highest priority, and we welcome the scrutiny that comes from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
"We fully accept the findings of this report and we have already implemented a significant quality improvement action plan, which commenced in January, to ensure that we deliver all of the recommendations made by the CQC.
"This detailed action plan has further strengthened our medicines control systems and seen the implementation of enhanced Covid-19 infection control procedures, with additional training regarding the correct donning and doffing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). In addition, we have strengthened the management team at the Home to ensure sustained improvements can be made.
"We have worked closely with the CQC and the local authority to ensure all necessary improvements have been made as swiftly as possible and we thank them for their assistance and support."
