The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has taken action to protect people by imposing conditions on Hepworth House, run by 313 Healthcare Limited. CQC has dropped the home’s rating from requires improvement to inadequate and placed it in special measures following an inspection in January.
Hepworth House is a residential care home providing personal care for up to 20 older people with a physical disability and people living with dementia. This inspection was prompted by CQC’s routine monitoring of health and care services.
CQC has dropped the home’s overall rating from requires improvement to inadequate, as well as for effective. CQC has dropped the home's rating for caring from good to inadequate. CQC has again rated safe, responsive, and well-led as requires improvement.
CQC has placed the home in special measures, meaning it will be kept under review and closely monitored to ensure people are receiving safe care.
CQC has also imposed urgent conditions on the home to focus its attention on the areas where significant and immediate improvements are needed. These conditions prevent the home from admitting new residents without prior agreement from CQC and require the home to send monthly reports to CQC detailing progress.
CQC has also issued the home warning notices in relation to person-centred care and the management of the home.
Stuart Dunn, CQC deputy director of operations in the East of England, said:
When we inspected Hepworth House, we were deeply concerned to find staff didn’t always respect people’s rights when providing care and didn’t always know how to safeguard people from abuse. Managers hadn’t ensured staff had the support, training or information needed to care for people in a safe and person-centred way.
Some people had been given personal care against their will, despite having full capacity to make decisions about their own care. This violated their dignity and human rights, and managers had failed to recognise this, which is unacceptable.
We also found that when people had experienced harm or allegations of abuse had been raised, leaders hadn’t fully investigated these incidents or reported them to outside organisations such as CQC and the local authority, as legally required. As a result, they missed opportunities to learn and protect people in the future.
Many people’s care plans and risk assessments lacked detail, and some people lacked care plans entirely, meaning staff didn’t have the information to meet people’s needs, reduce risks from their health conditions, or respect their preferences. Some people weren’t always given a voice in planning their care and we saw their choices weren’t always respected.
While most people we spoke to were happy with their care and said staff were kind, we found not everyone’s care met the standards they deserve and we expect. We’ve imposed conditions on the home’s registration to ensure the home’s management urgently address the concerns we found, and they have started making immediate changes to drive improvements.
We’ll continue to closely monitor the home, including through further inspections, to make sure people are kept safe while these improvements are made.
Inspectors also found:
- People’s medicines weren’t always managed safely.
- Staff hadn’t always immediately sought medical help when people sustained possible head injuries.
- People weren’t always given information in ways tailored to their needs.
- Some people’s end-of-life care plans were incomplete or didn’t clearly outline their wishes.
- People said there were usually enough staff, and staff responded to call bells promptly. However, inspectors saw some periods in the day in which people would be left with minimal engagement.
- Managers had improved and re-decorated the home environment since the last inspection, but some issues remained. For example, a fire escape was partially blocked and wardrobes weren’t always secured to walls to prevent them falling.
- Management hadn’t identified many of the issues found by inspectors, showing a lack of oversight of people’s care. However, staff and people living in the home said leaders were approachable.
- Some staff had been subjected to assault by residents experiencing distress. Leaders spoke with staff following these events to ensure they were ok, but had not always learned from these incidents to protect both the people living in the home and staff in future.
However:
- People’s relatives said the home communicated with them well.
The report will be published on CQC’s website in the coming days.