Troubled Buxton care home put in special measures after latest CQC inspection report

Five inspectors and two lay experts from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) made three unannounced visits to Haddon Hall Care Home, on London Road, in October 2022 but have only published their findings this month.

The previous CQC report, published in January 2022, had identified staffing shortages and other serious failings in safety and leadership at the home, earning a rating of ‘requires improvement’.

Despite the promises of action from the home’s management, the legally required follow-up inspection showed that the situation had deteriorated further still.

The report states: “People did not always receive safe care. Some people had developed sore and broken skin and were not always receiving the appropriate care to make them better.

“Risks to people's safety were not always assessed or reduced. Staff were not always deployed effectively to make sure people received safe care. The registered manager had failed to report all safeguarding incidents to external safeguarding professionals.”

It adds: “The provider had failed to ensure the service was well-led. The registered manager had not always worked effectively within the provider's governance processes. Recent audits and risk meetings had not identified the risks to people's safety we found during this inspection.

“Staff did not feel listened to valued or respected. The registered manager had failed to complete an investigation into repeated staff concerns of unsafe care.”

At the time of the inspectors visit in October, there were 69 people living at the home, which cares for older people, people living with dementia and younger adults.

The report notes that residents’ autonomy was being supported, that the home was clean and that residents’ relatives praised its staff but, on the key questions inspectors were asking, serious concerns remained.

The CQC has requested another action plan from the home, and promised to keep monitoring the situation before revisiting within six months.

The report says: “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, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures.

“This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions of the registration.

“For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months. If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect it and it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions it will no longer be in special measures.”

A spokesperson for the home’s parent company Porthaven said: “We are obviously disappointed that at the inspection in October 2022 the home was rated as inadequate.

“Since that date we have been working with the regulators and have made significant improvements . Our focus continues to be on delivering the high standards of care that we are known for.”

To read the latest report in full, go to https://tinyurl.com/npms86kr.