A WIRRAL care home has been told it must make improvements or face further enforcement action following an inspection by the health watchdog.

During an unannounced inspection in October, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found that Benham Nursing and Residential Home, in Bromborough, did not always have enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff to meet people’s needs.

In a report published today, the CQC says incidents had happened at the Spital Road home that had not been reported to the watchdog or the local authority when they should have been.

Inspectors found that they were failing to provide care which was “safe, effective, responsive or well led” and also found that improvements required as a result of a previous inspection last April had not all been made.

The home has now been rated as “inadequate” and told to make improvements or face further enforcement action.

CQC has issued the provider with warning notices setting a deadline for improvements in relation to the management of medicines, safeguarding of people who use services from abuse and quality assurance.

Under CQC’s new programme of inspections, all adult social care services are being given a rating to help people choose care. 

Overall, Benham Nursing and Residential Home has been rated as “inadequate”.

Debbie Westhead, deputy chief inspector of adult social care in the north said: “We found that sufficient improvements had not been made since our previous inspection and a number of concerns remain.

“We have told the provider that they must take action to resolve the issues we have identified.

“The people for whom they are providing a service are entitled to services that are of a consistently high quality and care that is tailored to meet people’s individual needs.

“We have made it clear that we will return to the home to check that the necessary improvements have been made. If not - we will take further action to make sure that people living there receive care which is safe, effective, caring and responsive to their needs.”

The Globe has contacted the home for comment and is expecting a call back later today.

 

Inspectors identified a number of areas in which improvements were required, including:   

  • Care records and assessments were not updated when people’s needs changed and lacked key information to enable staff to deliver safe and appropriate care that fully met people’s individual needs.
     
  • The provider did not have an effective system in place to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people received.
     
  • Inspectors found evidence of incidents having occurred which had not been reported to the CQC or the local authority in line with safeguarding procedures.
     
  • People were not protected against the risks associated with medicines because the provider did not have appropriate arrangements in place for the safe administration and recording of medicines.
     
  • Checks carried out on staff as part of the home’s recruitment procedures had not always been fully completed before staff started providing care.
     
  • Assessments of people’s ability to make decisions for themselves had not been undertaken.
     
  • There was no formal system in use for recording, investigating and responding to complaints and inspectors saw no evidence that learning from complaints had resulted in changes to practices within the home.
     
  • There was not always enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff to meet people's needs.