The owner of a care home put into special measures after being rated “inadequate” is appealing against the decision.
Kevin Martin, a psychiatric nurse with 40 years experience, branded the report into Thomas Owen House at Dewsbury as “very unfair” and hit out at what he called “the box ticking culture” that meant inspectors were “more and more obsessed with recording paperwork.”
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in June followed a visit to the home in February last year when it was given an overall rating of “requires improvement.”
On that occasion, inspectors found five breaches of the legal requirements in relation to the safe management of medicines, fit and proper persons employed, the assessment of mental capacity, lack of supervision for staff and good governance.
On their latest visit, inspectors said they found medicines were still not safely managed as records showed people did not consistently receive their medicines as prescribed.
Protocols for the use of “as and when required” medicines were not always in place and room temperatures in the area where medicines were stored were found to be outside the recommended range and were not being recorded. Management oversight of medicines was judged insufficient.
The home, which has 35 residents and 67 staff, was rated “good” for being caring and responsive, but “requires improvement” for effectiveness. It was rated “inadequate” for safety and leadership. It was rated “inadequate” overall and placed in “special measures.” The inspectors’ report said the home would be inspected again in six months.
Mr Martin, 61, said: “We were very disappointed and really upset as a staff group with the report from CQC from last June. We were pleased that we had been rated as ‘good’ for the care we provide to our residents and also that we were rated ‘good’ in the way we respond to the needs of the people we look after with often severe mental health problems. How can we be so caring and responsive if we are not safe or well-led? We have provided excellent care in Dewsbury for the past 30 years.”
Mr Martin said: “We have changed the way we record the care we provide and medication we give following the last report but this time even more boxes were required to be ticked.”
He said in one case, the GP suggested giving a resident a powdered food supplement as he wasn’t eating well. This was given accurately and recorded in the food/diet record. But the CQC said that because it was prescribed by the doctor it should have been recorded in the medication record and that therefore this was a breach of regulations.
On another occasion, staff did not give a resident a sedative as the resident was sleepy at the time. This was recorded accurately, but staff didn’t ‘write down in sufficient detail why’ in the med chart.
Mr Martin said: “I have been proud of the excellent care I have provided as a registered psychiatric nurse for over 40 years. Caring for people with severe mental health problems on a daily 24-hour basis can be difficult and it’s my job to support and encourage our staff. The report has been damaging and very demoralising for us all.
“We have an excellent reputation with NHS care commissioners, we are inspected every week by psychiatric social workers and psychiatrists who look in detail at the care we provide and the really good outcomes we achieve which is why we have a long waiting list.
“We feel the report is very unfair and we find the inspectors just keep looking until they can find something wrong somewhere. I know they are acting on behalf of the public to improve care standards, but they end up simply punishing and demoralising good homes and are more and more obsessed with recording paperwork. We are using all the procedures available to us to appeal against the report.”
