Care home inspection 'deeply concerning'
BBCA care home has been placed in special measures after a watchdog rated it as inadequate following what it described as a "deeply concerning" inspection.
Moormead Care Home, in Wiltshire, was revisited by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in February and March after being rated as requiring improvement in 2024.
Inspectors have now rated it as inadequate and said they found low morale among staff, who did not always respond to people's immediate needs.
The home is owned by Fidelity Healthcare and its director Usamah Islam said significant improvements have been made since the inspection and residents are "safe, well looked after and are all happy" at the home.
The report said one person told inspectors that when they used a call bell, staff said they would return in five minutes. The CQC said within this time, the person may have had an accident.
Risk assessments were found to often be absent, which inspectors said put people at serious risk, especially in the event of a fall or fire.
The report added some people who were identified as at risk of malnutrition had no mention of this in their care plans.
Neil Cox from the CQC said it was "deeply concerning" that inspectors found a decline in standards of care rather than improvements.
"For those on high-risk medications such as blood thinners or paraffin-based creams, risk assessments were often absent."
"We also found leaders provided inadequate guidance around choking risks," he added.
Mr Cox said he expected the care home to make "rapid and widespread" improvements.
The CQC will return to the care home to check on any progress made.
Mr Islam said: "It is incredibly disappointing this report has been published five months after the CQC inspection took place.
"Since that time, we have made significant improvements and we therefore do not feel that this judgement is a true reflection of where we are today.
"We are now just waiting for the CQC to come out and reinspect us, so we can have our rating lifted to 'good' where we feel it should be."
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