Lime House goes from 'good' to 'requires improvement'

Lime House in Lowton was given an overall rating of "requires improvement" from healthcare watchdog, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after a two day planned visit.

The new ranking means that the Newton Road home has lost its score of "good", which it received after its last inspection in 2016.

In the latest CQC visit, four of the five areas the home was marked on; its safety, effectiveness, responsiveness and leadership, were all judged to need improvements.

And five breaches of the Health and Social Care Act (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 were found.

The breaches related to "person-centred care, need for consent, safe care and treatment, safeguarding, nutrition and hydration, and good governance".

The report said: "Some aspects of the service were not always safe and there was limited assurance about safety.

"There was an increased risk that people could be harmed.

"We saw one person had sustained a high number of falls and had been referred to the falls team; the registered manager told us these falls had all been minor incidents and were only recorded in the daily log sheets and that any more serious incidents were reported to 'head office' for analysis.

"The registered manager had not undertaken any analysis of these falls to determine any patterns or trends and had not received any analysis from head office as they had not been identified on the falls information sent to them.

"There was no formal system in place at the home to record and review falls for any person unless they led to serious harm.

"Medicines were administered safely but were not always stored safely. For example, some medicines were stored securely in the registered manager's office, but the room temperature was not being.

"The effectiveness of people's care, treatment and support did not always achieve good outcomes or was inconsistent.

"Records of staff training we were given indicated no staff had attended end of life care training.

"There were widespread and significant shortfalls in service leadership.

"Leaders and the culture they created did not assure the delivery of high-quality care.

"There was no system in place for checking people's food and fluid records and repositioning records, and it was not clear if people who needed checking by staff during the night had been checked as required."

The home did receive praise in the findings though.

In the category of whether Lime House is caring, it was rated "good".

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The report said: "People were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

"The people we spoke with living at Lime House felt they had reasonable choice in the way they were cared for and that they were given sufficient time to do things for themselves, even if this took longer.

"During the inspection we observed staff giving people privacy if they needed it.

"People told us they felt well treated and were never made to feel uncomfortable or embarrassed.

"The home had created a Dignity Tree which was on display for all to see.

"people had posted comments including 'All the staff help a great deal and are always there when you need them', 'All the staff are lovely and will do anything for you', and 'The staff are marvellous'.

The inspection was carried out on February 28 and March 28 before the report was published on June 14.

The care home, which had 27 residents at the time of the visit, is part of Nugent Care.

A Nugent Care spokesman pointed out the following positives that were outlined in the inspection: “All the people we spoke with living at Lime House and their relatives were complimentary about the care staff.

"One person said 'staff are very good; they are always nice with me'.

"A second person told us 'staff are good; it's very open here. We have a laugh and talk about old times'.

"A third person commented 'you can have a laugh and a joke with staff and not be frightened of asking for anything'.

The spokesman added: "Nugent’s registered manager, nominated individual and the team are working closely with the CQC to ensure the issues raised in the report are resolved and that the quality of experience for our residents is improved."