Wellingborough care home placed in special measures again

A Wellingborough care home has been placed back into special measures less than a year after it had been judged to improve.

Regulator the Care Quality Commission has rated Midland Care Home in Wellingborough as inadequate after a two-day unannounced inspection on June 29 and June 30.

Inspectors found that some faulty equipment was being used, medicines were not managed safely, some care records had errors, all falls were not being recorded and the nursing home had not made positive changes on recommendations since an inspection six months earlier.

The CQC inspectors also found that some staff were not using their personal protective equipment properly, despite the current Covid-19 pandemic, and infection control measures were not as they should be. Some ‘high touch’ areas had not been cleaned for some time.

The report, which was published by the CQC on August 19, said: “Specific detailed schedules for increased cleaning during the Covid-19 pandemic had not been implemented. There was instruction for staff to clean “high touch” areas at each shift change, this had not consistently been completed. Records showed long periods between cleaning for some high touch areas. We found no evidence that people had been harmed however, systems were either not in place or robust enough to demonstrate safety was effectively managed. This placed people at risk of harm. This was a continued breach of regulation 12 (Safe Care and Treatment) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.”

It also said: “We observed people were not consistently given their medicine in line with current best practice guidance. One person was given a prescribed liquid food supplement to drink whilst laid down in their bed. They were supported with a few sips then given the bottle and the nurse left the room. We observed the person could not sit up unaided so was at potential risk of choking. We alerted the nurse who returned and supported the person to finish the supplement.”

Other points noted in the inspection included that the home was not always following the advice of health professionals, which meant residents were at risk of malnutrition. One staff member also told inspectors – ‘we do not have time to check care plans’.

Inspectors spoke to one resident, along with seven relatives and 11 members of the staff during their surprise inspection. Relatives told the inspectors they thought there were enough staff on duty and said the staff were kind, however some staff told inspectors they did thought they could do with more staff and that workers were going without breaks to meet care needs of the residents. Some also said they did not feel well supported by management and that staff morale was low.

Twenty residents were living at the 66-bed nursing home in Midland Road during the time of the inspection.

The inadequate rating comes just 16 months after the nursing home, which is part of the Hampton Ltd group and has been owned by Tej Sehmi since February 2018, was first rated back as inadequate in April 2019. It was then moved into the requires improvement category in December 2019, but standards have dropped once again.

If Mr Sehmi does not improve standards he could be stopped from running a nursing home.

The report says: “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 will re-inspect within six months of the date we published this report to check for significant improvements. If the registered provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe and there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This usually means we will start processes that will prevent the provider from continuing to operate the service.

Mr Sehmi said today: “We were disappointed with the findings of the latest CQC report, but understand that there were areas we needed to improve on.

“Since the date of the inspection we have appointed a new Home Manager, who has been working intensively with the team to implement the required changes.”