Care home improves but still breaching regulations

A struggling care home has continued to breach regulations, but is no longer under "special measures", according to a new report.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said it still had concerns about how Newcastle's Bowland Lodge was run.

It is the 10th consecutive inspection in which the home has been found to be in breach of standards since October 2015.

Manager Cheryl Goff said the home had "come a long way" since its last CQC rating, but "we know that there is always room for improvement".

Bowland Lodge was put under special measures in 2023 and declared "inadequate".

The CQC said the home's rating had been upgraded to "requires improvement" and was no longer under such close monitoring.

In its latest inspection, the team found care records "did not always contain accurate or consistent information" on people.

It also said the home was "not always effective" in identifying and addressing potential risks to people.

It said staff had not always received the training required to carry out their roles effectively.

Previous inspections had found no system in place to manage medicines and discovered "numerous medicine errors" and shortfalls in medication that had not been reported or recorded properly.

But in the latest report, the CQC found that medicine management had "improved", though some issues "were still ongoing".

It said the care home was clean and tidy and infection prevention and control had improved.

It also added that most people seemed happy with their care and spoke positively about staff.

Ms Hoff said the inspection showed that the home was on "the right track".

"Our team has been working tirelessly to implement new systems and processes that will help us deliver high-quality care to our residents," she said.

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