Kineton care home rated ‘inadequate’

Inspectors for the independent Care Quality Commission judged Haven House Residential Home in Warwick Road, Kineton, was failing to provide care that was safe, effective , caring, responsive, or well-led.

Some 20 elderly people, several suffering from dementia, are looked after at the home run by Bridget Wilson on behalf of owner Maurice Hermon.

But during an unannounced inspection in October, 2014, Haven House was given an overall rating of “inadequate.”

The inspectors said: “Although many people said staff treated them with kindness and compassion, we found examples where people’s needs had not been met and where people had not been protected against risks associated with cleanliness and infection control.

“We also found that the service’s recruitment processes and record-keeping needed to be improved.”

The Care Quality Commission regulates health and social care in England with the aim of helping people to choose the best service to meet their own needs or those of elderly relatives.

At Haven House a number of improvements were recommended. These included:

1 Ensuring that appropriate arrangements were in place to cover for unplanned staff absences

2 The home needed to operate an effective quality assurance monitoring system

3 Mangers/owners must ensure premises are maintained to provide a suitable and safe environment (front door admission needed better security)

4 Resident and staff records need to be stored more securely

5 The provider must ensure an effective system to prevent and control the risks of infection is put in place

6 Improvements regarding the home’s management of medicines are required

7 An effective staff recruitment process needs to be implemented to ensure staff are suitable and of good character.

Sue Howard, the commission’s interim deputy chief inspector of adult social care said: “We found that the care provided at Haven House fell short of what we expect services to provide. We have told (managers at) the home they must take action to resolve the issues we identified.”

The commission inspectors will return to check again that the improvements have been made - if not action will be taken.

Care home manager Mrs Wilson said it was difficult to recruit staff and she regularly advertised vacancies at Leamington Job Centre but this was not helped by the bus service being only every hour. Agency staff were employed where possible.

Mrs Wilson said: “The inspectors are returning next week and we have already made improvements, including security at our front door.”