Heysham care home put into special measures after inspectors find it 'inadequate' in two major areas

Ferncross Residential Home, in Crossdale Avenue, was inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in December.

The home, which provides care for older people needing nursing or personal care including those with dementia, had 12 residents at the time of inspection, but can support up to 14 people.

The inspection was prompted by a review of the information the CQC held about the service and information received from partner organisations.

As a result, inspectors carried out a focused inspection to review the key questions of 'safe' and 'well-led' only.

At the last inspection in 2022 - rated good - it was recommended that the registered manager acquainted themselves with legislative requirements as they related to health and social care. However, this had not been acted on and inspectors established breaches of regulations.

Inspectors found some aspects of staff recruitment were not effective at ensuring staff members were always suitable to work with vulnerable people. Some essential safety checks had not been made and there was inappropriate oversight of these processes by the provider.

Medicines management was unsafe. The registered manager was unaware of the full details of which staff were administering medicines and some of the record keeping was poor.

Care planning and risk assessing needed input and review to ensure records were current and effective in providing essential guides to staff so that residents were supported appropriately.

Although fire safety was a priority and the provider was working with the local fire service, other environmental safety issues needed addressing. These included concerns around gas safety, legionella checks and access to hot water.

Any checks the registered manager and management team were making were not picking up on issues and had not identified the concerns seen at this inspection.

The registered manager was responsive to concerns noted during the inspection and took action to make improvements and promote safety.

Residents, their relatives and staff were confident in the management team at the home and praised how approachable they were. Staff said they were appropriately trained and supported.

Infection, prevention and control processes were appropriate, and inspectors were assured about the provider's ability to reduce the transmission of infections.

Staff were competent about safeguarding processes and knew how to protect people from abuse.

Relatives said their family members felt safe in the home and were trusting of staff and management.

Residents were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests.

CQC inspectors will now meet with the provider to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. They will also work with the local authority and other partner agencies to monitor progress and will continue to monitor information received about the service.

Being placed in special measures means the CQC will keep the service under review and, if they do not propose to cancel the provider's registration, will re-inspect within six months to check for significant improvements.

If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe and there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, enforcement action will be taken.

Ferncross has been contacted for comment.