Care Quality Commission slams Basingfield Court, ruling that residents are 'not safe'

Basingfield Court, in Huish Lane, Old Basing, was visited by the Care Quality Commission in September following concerns raised regarding the care and welfare of people who use the service, run by Sanctuary Care.

A report has now said: “We found that people were not safe, and their health and welfare needs had not been met by sufficient numbers of appropriately trained staff.”

The home, which had 47 people living there at the time, failed four out of five areas of the inspection regarding the care and welfare of people, management of medicines, staffing and assessing and monitoring the quality of service provision. It has been told to improve in all these areas. It passed requirements relating to workers.

The report said that the manager, Rachel Barry, has been on leave since May 2014 and that at the time of the inspection there were 10 staff vacancies. A regional manager had been in post since July.

Inspectors found that people were “mainly supported by kind and compassionate staff” but there were concerns regarding a lack of staff and high percentage of agency staff.

A care worker raised the issue at a staff meeting in August, and said: “We have had concerns for a long time. We are stretched. When I came here years ago the home was amazing and now it’s changed because of pressure of work and having to show agency staff what to do.”

The report said all staff had become “demoralised because numerous requests for increased staffing had been declined by the provider”.

Inspectors found that prescribed medicines were not administered safely, and since the last inspection, four medication errors had been reported where one person’s medicine was given to another.

Stock checks of medicines were not completed and residents were being woken up at 6am to take their medicine.

Inspectors found that staff administering medicine were constantly interrupted, and those on a night shift said it was “exhausting concentrating” and “were surprised more errors had not occurred.”

Sanctuary Care’s policy is that medicine plans should be updated monthly. However, inspectors found that most had not been updated since March, and did not document people’s allergies or side effects.

In January 2014, the home notified the CQC of a “serious event that stopped the service running safely and properly” when the home had no hot water.

According to records, part of Basingfield had no hot water for over three weeks. One relative had complained because their relative had been without water for five weeks.

An audit of Basingfield, in August 2014, highlighted an urgent need to review care plans and risk assessments.

However, when the CQC visited, it found only two of the 47 had been reviewed.

One person had suffered a fall, which had been fully recorded. However, the CQC found no falls risk assessment or plan to prevent a recurrence. The report said that permanent staff were aware of this person’s needs, but agency staff were not.

Sanctuary Care has been asked to send a report by yesterday, setting out the action it will take to meet the standards.

The CQC has a range of enforcement powers it can use if these are not met.

Christine Bell, Sanctuary Care’s regional director, said: “Please be assured that our residents’ happiness, health and safety are of paramount importance to us.

“Prior to the inspection in September, we had begun to address some of the areas for improvement at the home, and over the past few months we have made significant progress against the points raised in the report.”