Failing care home to remain in special measures

A care home has been told it must remain in special measures after inspectors found a “repeated failure” to ensure safe, high quality care.

Stonedale Lodge in Croxteth, Liverpool, was placed under intense scrutiny after a damning inspection by the Care Quality Commission last June, entering special measures for the second time in 18 months.

A year on from that initial inspection, inspectors have published their latest findings in which they said those living at the home remained “at risk of harm.”

Operator Advinia insisted the home delivered an "overall good standard of care".

The CQC's fresh report has set out how during their lengthy inspection just before Christmas, a range of issues were identified.

This included one person who had experienced a choking incident which had not been recorded.

The document said: “It was not always possible to tell from this person’s food diary what texture of food they were being given, as there was no consistent recording of this.”

Inspectors also identified more than 120 occupants of the home were not always protected from the risk of injury following falls. Concerns were also raised regarding the handling of medicines.

In some cases, prescribed medicines were not always available to be given to people as there was no stock in the home, the report found.

Issues were also identified around the personal hygiene of service users and their surroundings - inspectors found some people’s teeth did not look clean and care records showed people did not get support at reasonable times.

Pillowcases across the units were also found to be stained and not changed.

However, the CQC did say family members and residents reported being happy with the home and satisfied at the level of care.

In a statement, Advinia told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "The safety and wellbeing of residents is our priority and, despite the findings of the CQC, we maintain that the home delivers an overall good standard of care, as do our local authority partners and those who access the service.

"Like all care providers, improvements can, and should, be made and we have already formulated and implemented a robust action plan to address outstanding issues raised in this report.

"Meanwhile, it was pleasing to see that the kindness and the caring nature of our dedicated colleagues was recognised by the inspectors."

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