A care home in Nantwich has been rated as “inadequate” following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
St Catherines Care Home on Barony Road was found to have breached regulation in FIVE areas in safe care and treatment, safeguarding, meeting people’s hydration and nutritional needs, staffing, and how well the home was being managed.
It follows an unannounced inspection in October and CQC said the home has been placed into special measures “to protect people”.
The home, run by Park Homes (UK) Limited, provides accommodation and nursing care to older people, some living with dementia. At the time of CQC’s inspection, 34 people were using the service.
Park Homes said today they are confident they have addressed the issues and that CQC inspectors were due to carry out another visit today (April 29) and next week.
In October’s visit, as well as the overall rating declining, how safe and caring the service is has also declined from “requires improvement” to “inadequate”.
How well-led the home is has again been rated as “inadequate”.
And how effective and responsive the service is has again been rated as requires improvement.
Linda Hirst, CQC deputy director in the north, said: “Despite us telling leaders where they needed to improve at our last inspection, they hadn’t been able to do this, and we found further concerns during this visit.
“Staffing issues at the service were a significant concern.
“The home had no registered manager in place during our inspection and nobody had a grasp of the issues or what action was needed to fix them.
“Staff and relatives of people using the service told us their concerns about low staffing and how it was affecting the safety and dignity of people living at St Catherines home.
“Staff told us they’d been consistently asking Park Homes (UK) Limited for more staff, especially cleaners as the home’s common areas, people’s bedrooms and staff room weren’t clean, but they told us that little action had been taken.
“Relatives told us there were broken plates under people’s beds, stained bedding, full bins and sticky floors in people’s bedrooms.
“This lack of staff impacted on all areas of care, including safeguarding. Potential safeguarding events weren’t always shared with appropriate authorities including CQC which put people at risk.
“One relative told us of their consistent concerns about their loved one’s safety after escalating an injury to staff.
“Staff weren’t aware of the injury, and it hadn’t been documented or investigated.
“It was deeply concerning to observe people in distress not receiving timely support.
“In the lounge we saw one person visibly distressed and crying out, while another resident at risk of falls attempted to leave their wheelchair unaided.
“We also saw some staff walking past rooms where call bells had been activated, appearing to ignore them.
“One relative told us a lack of night staff being available to provide medications, had led to their loved one being left in pain with a headache all night.
“Staff told us they weren’t aware of the whistleblowing procedures and were relieved CQC inspectors were on site as they were very worried about residents and felt they had nowhere to report their concerns to.
“They were particularly concerned with the management of the service.
“They told us there were no leaders to manage risks or investigate incidents including unexplained bruising, unwitnessed falls, skin tears, medication errors and inadequate fluid intake.
“The people living at St Catherines deserve better and we’ve told leaders where rapid and widespread improvements need to happen.
“We’ve placed the service in special measures to protect people while this happens and won’t hesitate to take further regulatory action if this doesn’t happen.”
The report said staff missed “40 required basic care interventions in just one day” including repositioning people, cleaning equipment, oral care and checking on people’s general welfare due to capacity.
A spokesperson for Park Homes UK told Nantwich News: “Park Homes UK prides itself on delivering the best possible care to all our residents.
“Naturally, we were extremely disappointed that CQC’s inspection, which was over six months ago, identified some shortfalls.
“Over the last six months we have addressed every issue identified by the Commission and we are confident the home has now met CQC’s requirements.
“Indeed, recent surveys of the residents and their families indicated they were all extremely happy with the levels of care and comfort the home provides.
“Furthermore, CQC have attended the home on 29 April 2025 to re-inspect it and we expect a much more positive outcome to be the result.”
You can read the full CQC report here.
(pic by Google Maps)
Recent Comments