Axe hanging over Walsall care home as it remains in special measures
A failing care home has received its second damning inspection in three months with health watchdogs now threatening serious action.
Bosses at Angel Court, at the Manor Road Precinct, Walsall, are now in a race against time to turn things around before inspectors return. It was placed in Special Measures by the Care Quality Commission following its initial visit in June where it subsequently gave it an Inadequate rating.
The findings in June were that residents were left at risk of harm, incidents went unreported and staff levels were insufficient as shortcomings in the categories of leadership and safety dragged the overall rating down.
It meant Angel Court Residential Care Home, which caters for up to 25 people, some of whom who have dementia, was ordered to make significant improvements.
However after the inspectors’ return on September 11, they ruled leadership is still ‘Inadequate’. The latest report, which has just been published, said: “The manager was appointed on July 31, 2017 and told us that a meeting had been held with people and their relatives on August 5, 2017.
“The meeting discussed what actions were being taken to improve the service. However we were uncertain the meeting had been effective.”
Inspectors added: “We requested a copy of the provider’s plan for improvement to establish the actions they intended to take.
“The manager informed us the provider had not supplied an improvement plan.”
The report added: “We found some care workers safeguarding training was not up to date. The lack of effective best interest decisions in respect of the management of covert medication for some people created a risk and may infringe their legal rights.”
The home has made progress on safety with that particular rating now elevated to ‘requires improvement’. The home will be inspected again within six months.
The CQC report says: “This service will continue to be kept under review and, if needed could be escalated to urgent enforcement action.”
The maximum time the home can remain in Special Measures is 12 months, giving a final deadline of June 20 next year. If no improvement has been made by then the CQC could ‘take action to prevent the provider from operating the service. This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration.” No one from Angel Court was available to comment.
