A care home in Wirral has been deemed “not safe”, following a recent inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The Woodlands Care Home, in Meols, has received an overall rating of ‘Inadequate’, the lowest possible rating. The CQC’s damning report highlights issues with management and building maintenance, as well as asserting that residents were “not safe and were at risk of avoidable harm”.
The home, on Birkenhead Road, provides care for up to 16 people, with 11 residents living at the property at the time of the inspection. The Woodlands had previously been rated 'Good' following an inspection in 2018 but, after a number of safety concerns had been raised, the CQC revisited the property unannounced in May 2022.
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Their report details that the building has not been safely maintained, with evidence of “significant” fire safety risks. The lift was not in working order and chemicals that posed a risk to people were not stored securely.
Policies to help reduce the risk of infections, including COVID-19, were not all in place and parts of the home were visibly dirty, with management failing to address issues such as broken toilet seats and bathroom taps.
People’s individual needs were not robustly assessed and medicines were not always managed safely, leaving residents able to access controlled medicines which had not been properly secured.
Another area where the quality of care at the home has deteriorated is in the effectiveness category, where the rating has gone from 'Good' to 'Inadequate'. Records showed that relatives had signed consent forms on people's behalf, with “no evidence that they have the legal authority to do so”.
Applications to deprive people of their liberty had not all been made appropriately for all people who required this, whilst staff had not received the support and training necessary to ensure they could be effective in their roles.
The service was also dubbed ‘inadequate’ in the ‘well-led’ category. This meant there were “widespread and significant shortfalls'' in the home’s leadership and the leaders, nor the culture they created, helped to “assure the delivery of high-quality care”.
Although a manager is registered as employed at the home, they had resigned from the role and were not in the home at the time of the inspection, leaving the deputy manager to oversee the day to day running of the service, with little support from the provider.
Despite the issues raised during the inspection, residents and their relatives told inspectors that they felt The Woodlands was a safe place to be and that people were well cared for. Staff felt well supported and measures had been taken during the pandemic to facilitate people having contact with their relatives.
The CQC has requested an action plan from the provider, The Woodlands Care Home TWCH LLP, to establish their plans to improve standards of quality and safety. The independent regulator will now work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress.
The service’s overall rating of 'Inadequate' means that The Woodlands is now in 'special measures', and the CQC will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service should improvements not be made within the next six months.
According to the report, the provider has already begun making improvements and addressing the risks identified during the inspection.
The Echo contacted The Woodlands Care Home who declined to comment.
