A CARE facility in Tadley has ‘apologised to the people it supports’ and vowed to improve after it fell from its ‘usually high standard’ according to inspectors.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected Fir Tree Lodge Residential Home, in Heather Drive, on February 6 and 7, giving a rating of ‘requires improvement’.

Fir Tree Lodge is a bungalow adapted for up to 10 young adults with learning or physical disabilities, a sensory impairment, and/or autism spectrum disorder.

It was given a ‘requires improvement’ rating in all five areas the CQC looks at, including safety and responsiveness.

Part of the report from the CQC read: “Risks had not always been identified or assessed. One person had bed rails on their bed. There was no risk assessment in place or guidance for staff to inform them where the bed rails should be placed on their bed.”

However, another part read: “People had the support they needed to eat and staff aimed to make meal times a social activity. Meal times were not rushed and everyone was included in the activity. People had their needs assessed and the service sought advice and guidance from healthcare professionals if needed.”

Sue Parish, regional head of operations at SeeAbility, which runs Fir Tree Lodge, said: “Following the CQC inspection at Fir Tree Lodge on 6th and 7th February 2018, in which the service was rated as ‘requiring improvement’, we have reviewed the report, and accept that some observations made during this inspection do not represent our usually high standards of practice.

“We have apologised for this to the people we support and their families and assured them we are committed to take action to address this.

“We immediately developed an action plan to make the required improvements and have been monitoring progress against this on a fortnightly basis. Most of these actions have already been completed and all the changes we are committed to making will be embedded by June 2018.

“We would encourage people to read the detailed findings of the report which provide some balance, and demonstrate a range of positive feedback and evidence about the service, particularly comments from families of people we support.

“Ninety-five per cent of SeeAbility services inspected under the current regulatory framework have been rated as ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’, which is among the highest within the adult social care sector.

“We are working hard to see this to return to 100 per cent and ensure that everyone we support receives the highest quality service.”