Inspectors discovered a bug infestation, alongside mould and other problems at a care home in Leicestershire. The facility has been given an ‘inadequate’ rating after inspectors found a resident living in a room infested by bedbugs and others at risk of being given the wrong medicine.
Gwendolen Road Care Home, in North Evington, Leicester has been placed under ‘special measures’ after officials from the Care Quality Commission, (CQC), carried out the unannounced inspection in August. The residential home, which provides support for up to 14 people who have a learning disability or long term mental health condition, was previously rated as ‘good’ by the health watchdog in 2019.
However, the latest inspection identified a variety of failings, the CQC said. Accounts from its inspectors suggested residents were “not adequately protected from the risk of harm” and identified multiple safeguarding issues during the inspection, reports Leicestershire Live.
The report states: “Not all staff we spoke to could clearly describe how to identify potential safeguarding concerns and our observations confirmed staff lacked insight into safeguarding. Risks relating to fire safety had not been identified or acted upon. For example, a person who was known to be a risk of smoking cigarettes in their bedroom, was placed in a nearby room to a person who had oxygen tanks in their bedroom.
“Medicines were also not always managed safely, some people could not communicate verbally so an information sheet described how the person may behave when they were distressed or in pain. However, the information sheets described identical behaviours for both pain and distress, this placed people at risk of receiving the wrong medicine to meet their needs as staff were unclear about which one to administer.”
Measures to prevent infection were also heavily criticised. It was noted that a bedroom was infested and that the care provider was aware of the problem but “failed to take action to treat the parasites” or to provide alternative accommodation for the person. Inspectors also suggested the home was not clean throughout. They said: “We observed dust, debris, ingrained dirt, mould, stains and unsecured clinical waste during a tour of the premises.”
The physical environment of the home was also in “poor condition” according to the report. It said said people were in rooms with “stained and worn mattresses, broken blinds and windows that would not stay open”.
The home’s garden was also labelled as “unclean and unsafe” and contained “rubbish and debris”. A number of broken patio slabs created trip hazards, they said.
People in the home were also at risk of not getting enough to eat and drink throughout the day. The officials suggested that while diet care plans were in place they “were not always reflective of people’s nutritional needs”.
The dining room was also criticised and labelled by the inspectors as “not clean and in a state of disrepair.” It was noted that there were “cracks in the plaster on the wall, the carpet was stained and a bin containing used PPE had a broken lid exposing the contents”, which meant that people did not have a hygienic place to eat.
After being placed under special measures, Gwendolen Road Care Home will be reviewed and will be re-inspected within six months to check for significant improvements. In response to the new CQC report, a spokesperson for the home said that a new manager had been employed in June and they did not have enough time to make “vast amounts of improvement” before the inspection.
They said: “The home is working towards making improvements, it has been a tough time. We are working day in and day out to improve the home, we are recruiting new staff. The home is a much more stable place than it was.”
