A care home in Swansea has possibly put vulnerable people living there at risk of ‘abuse and harm’, a report has found.

Inspectors visiting Arborough House in Southsea have deemed the care home inadequate and placed it into special measures following a scathing report. The report revealed a resident at the home, in Yarborough Road, made four allegations of concern about staff this July. There were no records of an investigation.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors – who had been tipped off about concerns at the home ahead of inspection – also discovered accounts of abuse from one resident to others in the home, which included the throwing of furniture. It was rated inadequate in two of five key areas.

Inspectors found multiple breaches of the Health and Social Care Act, the report said. An inspector wrote: ‘People may not have always been protected from the risk of potential abuse or harm. ‘One person’s daily records reflected incidents that could constitute abuse towards others. ‘For example, records stated they had been both verbally and physically aggressive towards other people living at the home. ‘This included throwing furniture at one person and “making the ladies scared”.’

The report – which was published on October 20 – added: ‘We found reports whereby a person had made allegations about staff on four occasions in July 2017 but there were not records to demonstrate these concerns had been investigated and reported.’ It followed an unannounced inspection on August 2 at the care home. In addition to the allegations issues, it also flagged up unexplained gaps in the recording of medicines, outdated fire assessments and a lack of training or risk plan in place to assist a resident who has diabetes.

Despite the report, residents of Arborough House told inspectors that they were content at the care home. One said: ‘I have no worries and no-one troubles me here.’ Another resident said: ‘We are very safe here, no complaints.’ At the time of inspection, there were 12 people living at the home, some of whom living with dementia.

In total, the inspectors found seven breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. Previously, the care home had been rated requires improvement at its last inspection last July. The News approached both the manager and the owner of the care home for comment. Neither had responded to multiple requests for comment by the time of going to print last night.

The CQC report states –

Up to date fire safety information was not available.  The acting manager showed us a fire risk assessment which was dated 2009.   They were unable to provide us with any evidence of recent fire checks. We were unable to see that every person had a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP).

A PEEP is a bespoke ‘escape plan’ for individuals who may not be able to reach an ultimate place of safety unaided or within a satisfactory period of time in the event of any emergency. One member of staff told us there was an evacuation folder but was not able to find this. We referred our concerns to the fire and rescue team. We also discussed these concerns with the registered manager following the inspection. They provided us with copies of the PEEPs that staff were unable to find. They told us everyone living at the home did have a PEEP and was unable to explain why staff were unable to locate them.

The registered manager said they would implement a whole home grab pack by the fire exit which would contain all relevant information. Failure to ensure staff knew where this information was could place people at risk in the event of an emergency.

They also told us and shared evidence that a fire risk assessment was in place dated 2015 and weekly fire system checks were undertaken. However, feedback from the fire and rescue service was that the laundry room door lacked a self-closer [a typical high risk room], regular training and drills were not in place and they had concerns about the standard of the two of the doors by the front entrance which should be fire doors.

Not all staff were able to demonstrate a clear understanding of fire procedures. One member of staff said at night they would only call 999 if a fire was confirmed, whereas we saw the directions were for staff to call 999 and then go and check the relevant zone. This staff member said they had been trained to use the evacuation mat, but it could only be used for a small person and they were unable to find it. We later found it in the entrance hall.  The full report is available at cqc.org.uk

The News

CQC