Express & Star

Stafford care home in special measures for the second time in two years

A care home has been placed in special measures for the second time in two years.

Published
Last updated
Longridge Care Home. Picture: Google

Longridge Care Home in Dunston has been rated inadequate by the health watchdog, returning to the worst rating just over a year after being taken out of special measures and rated ‘requires improvement’.

In May 2017, the home, near Penkridge, was placed in special measures after a string of failures were found. A follow-up inspection in October 2017 found the service to still be inadequate – before inspectors found the home had made improvements in April 2018, taking it out of special measures.

But after visiting again in May this year, inspectors rated the home inadequate overall, as well as its safety and leadership. Effectiveness, care and responsiveness was rated requires improvement.

They found that people at Longridge Care Home were not safe and at risk of avoidable harm – including one patient who had not been given their medication for 10 days.

The report said: “At the last inspection people’s medicines were not always being managed safely, medicines stock was not monitored, and people had been without their medicine. At this inspection we found the provider had failed to ensure action to address these concerns.

“We checked to see if people had their medicines administered safely. We found one person had not had their medicine for a period of 10 days as it had run out. The person was left at risk of harm as they did not receive their medicine and there was no record of the provider seeking advice.

“People were not protected from potential abuse. We found two people had been reported by staff as having unexplained bruising to their bodies. Staff had recorded these bruises but there had been no investigation and no referrals to the local safeguarding team.”

Longridge Care Home has been approached for comment.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.