A Nottingham care home has been downgraded from good to inadequate and placed in special measures after inspectors found serious concerns around safety, leadership and care.
The Care Quality Commission inspected Aldercar Residential Care Home in May as part of its routine monitoring of services.
The home, in Hucknall, is run by Ania Limited and can support up to 28 people, including residents living with dementia or mental health needs. At the time of the inspection, 19 people were living there.
Following the visit, the CQC downgraded the home’s overall rating from good to inadequate.
Its ratings for being safe, responsive and well-led were all reduced from good to inadequate. The rating for how effective the service is fell from requires improvement to inadequate, while the rating for how caring it is dropped from good to requires improvement.
Inspectors identified five breaches of regulation, relating to risk management, medicines, person-centred care, consent, safeguarding and the overall management of the service.
The home has now been placed in special measures, meaning it will be closely monitored while improvements are made. Special measures also give services a structured timeframe to make changes, with further action possible if improvements are not delivered.
The CQC has also begun the process of taking regulatory action over the concerns identified. Aldercar Residential Care Home has the right to appeal.
Greg Rielly, CQC deputy director of adult social care in the East Midlands, said inspectors found leaders did not have “sufficient control” over the quality and safety of care being provided.
He said: “The home lacked systems and processes to monitor care, while issues hadn’t been identified and acted upon.
“People had mixed experiences of care. Some told us staff were kind and compassionate, but others said staff provided care to them rather than with them.
“One person said staff were under so much pressure that asking for a cup of hot water might go unanswered. Another told us staff had told them off for using their buzzer too often at night, which isn’t the standard of care people should expect.”
Mr Rielly said inspectors also had serious concerns about how safeguarding issues were managed.
He added that the home did not always properly assess people before they moved in, meaning staff could not be confident they could safely meet people’s needs.
Staff did not always record or report incidents, meaning chances to prevent similar issues from happening again were missed.
However, the CQC said inspectors found a new management team was already working to make improvements.
Mr Rielly said staff had reported improved morale and felt more comfortable speaking up, while healthcare professionals spoke positively about their relationship with the service.
He added: “However, these improvements clearly needed more time to embed to ensure people received the care they deserved.
“We have told leaders and staff at Aldercar Residential Care Home where improvements must be made. We will keep the service under close review to ensure people receive safe care while this happens.”
Inspectors found that staff were not always recruited safely, with appropriate checks not always completed before employment began.
The report also found people felt they had little choice or control over their daily lives, with staff not always promoting independence or asking for feedback on food or activities.
Medicines were not always managed safely, which put people at risk of not receiving the right treatment at the right time.
Inspectors also found the home did not always recognise when people’s health was deteriorating or contact the appropriate healthcare service.
The CQC said the new management team was working to establish clearer roles, improve accountability and create a more open culture.
