10 March 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Glen Heathers is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 53 people. The service provides support to older people including people living with dementia and/or a physical disability. At the time of our inspection there were 24 people using the service. Glen Heathers accommodated people in one adapted building.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were not always prevented from receiving unsafe care and treatment. People were at risk of harm because risks to them were not always assessed or mitigated.
Incidents including safeguarding concerns were not always recognised, reported or investigated. There were concerns about the safe management of; medicines, infection control, staffing and recruitment.
The provider had failed to make enough improvements since the previous inspection and has a track record of not providing good standards of safety. We continued to receive feedback from people and relatives which raised concerns about the safety and quality of care.
The delivery of high-quality care is not assured by the provider’s system in place to assess, monitor, and improve the service. A manager is in post and we received positive feedback about their impact on the service culture. However, leadership in the service has been stretched and inconsistent which has meant progress since the previous inspection has been slow and improvements have not always been sustained.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was inadequate (published 12 November 21)
The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found the provider remained in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
We received concerns about people’s safety and as a result, we undertook this focused inspection. In addition, we carried out an unannounced focused inspection of this service on 13 September 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after that inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve notifications of other incidents, safeguarding service users from abuse and improper treatment, premises and equipment, safe care and treatment, good governance and staffing.
We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe and well-led which contain those requirements.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has not changed from inadequate. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Glen Heathers on our website at www.cqc.org.uk .
Enforcement and Recommendations
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.
We have identified breaches in relation to the safe care and treatment for people, staffing, safeguarding people from abuse and improper treatment, fit and proper persons employed, governance and notifying CQC of incidents.
We issued a Notice of Proposal to remove this location from the providers registration. The provider did not submit any representations against this Notice so we issued a Notice of Decision. We have now removed this location from the provider's registration. This service is no longer operational with effect from 6 June 2022.