An Anfield care home has been placed in special measures after inspectors felt residents were at risk of harm.
A Care Quality Commission (CQC) report into Abbey Lawns Care Home on Anfield Road found that the safety, leadership and effectiveness of the home were all deemed to be inadequate. Following an inspection in January, officers found that residents were “not always safeguarded from the risk of abuse” and an effective system to record and analyse accidents and incidents in the home was not in place.
Despite this, CQC officials said they were told by people living their that they felt safe. This year’s assessment also found that there were “multiple hazards throughout the home, such as windows without restrictor and trip hazards caused by uneven flooring.” In addition, Abbey Lawns’ management of risk was said to be inadequate, particularly in relation to fire safety.
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The CQC’s report said: “Staff did not have an emergency evacuation plan to follow and they were unclear of their roles in the event of an emergency, such as a fire. Staff had not received fire safety training, regular fire drills had not been carried out and people's personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) were not accurate or fit for purpose.
In terms of care, it was said in the report that residents' care plans lacked detail and there was a “lack of awareness and consideration given to alternative communication formats to effectively support people living with learning disabilities.” As with fire safety, staff had not completed training on supporting people living with learning disabilities and/or autism.
As a result they “lacked the knowledge, skills and experience as to how to support and communicate with people with these support needs as safely and effectively as possible” inspectors found. They added that following the January visit, work began on training.
Following the damning report, Abbey Lawns has now been placed in special measures, meaning it will be kept under review and, if the CQC does not propose to cancel its registration, will be re-inspected in six month to check for “significant improvements.” Should the commission feel there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, “we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures” and “begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service.”
In a statement, the Abbey Lawns Care Home operations team responded to the findings. It said: “The past two years during covid have been extremely tough on the care home sector throughout the country.
“As you are probably aware the whole nation is going through a major staffing crisis, add covid-19 and you really do have an outcome of staff under stresses they have never had to deal with before. The care home sector rightly so is a highly regulated sector where standards are constantly being monitored.
“It is a normal situation for there to be areas to be worked on and improved. Knowing that we would face a staffing crisis we acted very early and applied for an immigration licence enabling us to bring nurses into the country and the strategy has started to pay off. We now have added a compliance and quality control executive to the business to manage and work on all weaker areas.
“Our strategy has always been to work closely with the CQC and the commissioners to make sure we are always adapting to the current climate and dealing with hurdles head on. Our main priority is and always has been giving the utmost and best service for our residents whom we love and care for.”
