AN OLTON care home has been placed in special measures following an unannounced inspection by health watchdogs.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited St Michael’s Home on Warwick Road in March after concerns were raised over the quality of care people received and the management of the home.
The home, which is run by St. Michael’s Care Ltd, is a residential care home providing personal care and support to up to 21 older people, some living with dementia.
The CQC said at the time of the inspection there were 15 people using the service.
The home’s overall rating has dropped from requires improvement to inadequate.
The watchdog says effective, caring and responsive were not inspected, therefore effective remains rated as requires improvement and caring and responsive remains rated as good.
The CQC said it placed the service into special measures to focus the provider’s attention on making rapid and widespread improvements and added it will closely monitor the service during this time and will inspect again to assess if improvements are made.
Sonia Brooks, CQC deputy director of operations in the Midlands, said: “Inspectors found staff weren’t managing medicines well. During a handover, a member of staff reported someone had been experiencing severe pain in their legs, however, nothing had been done to help them.
“As no action had been taken, an inspector had to intervene and mention to a member of staff the symptoms could be due to a potentially life-threatening blood clot.
“Staff called an ambulance and following a review from the paramedics, it was identified the person had a history of pain in their legs and had been prescribed medicine to relieve this.
“However, they hadn’t been given their medication since they were admitted to the home 10 days earlier.”
The report says inspectors found the home was not clean and infection control was not effectively managed, the systems to assess, monitor and improve the service were not effective in identifying shortfalls and securing improvements and there was a lack of effective leadership.
However, it also reported that people were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and staff had received training about how to protect people from the risk of abuse.
Ms Brooks added: “It was disappointing to see issues we identified at the last inspection hadn’t been addressed, which placed people at risk of harm and demonstrated lessons hadn’t been learnt.
“We have reported our findings to the provider, and they know what they must address. We will return to carry out another inspection, and if sufficient progress hasn’t been made, we will not hesitate to take further action.”
The Observer has contacted St Michael’s Care Home for comment.
