‘Dried faecal matter’, ‘matted hair’ and ‘a malodourous smell’ were discovered during a CQC inspection at a Manchester care home for the elderly.
York Lodge Residential Home in Urmston, Trafford, was previously inspected in July 2014 and the subsequent report, published in April last year, passed the company on all five criteria.
But almost a year on, the home finds itself in special measures, with two out of the five areas – safety and leadership – being branded ‘inadequate’ by the Care Quality Commission.
The remaining three areas – effectiveness, level of care and responsiveness – have also deteriorated notably, each falling into the ‘requires improvement’ bracket.
The CQC report, published on March 3, uncovered a lack of cleanliness in some areas of the home, in particularly in a communal bathroom.
Despite positive reports from residents regarding the cleanliness of the home, inspectors observed several issues deemed to pose an increased ‘risk of infections spreading’.
The report said: “We looked in the plastic drawers and found they were not clean, notably one drawer which held incontinence pads had a thick brown layer of matted hair and dirt in the bottom.
“The toilet which was touching the rack of laundered clothes was stained with faeces inside and on the outside of the rim and had not been cleaned in some time.
“The room also contained a wheeled commode chair that had faecal staining around the central hole.
“We looked in the other toilet and the room had a malodourous smell coming from a bin with no lid that contained used incontinence pads.
“On the first day of the inspection we noted that the toilet was stained with dried faecal matter – we did not observe anyone cleaning it that day and on the following day we found it to be in the same state.”
Along with cleanliness, other areas breached under safety regulations concern a lack of medicines protocols, risk assessments, and safety hazards not being effectively dealt with.
On one occasion, inspectors noticed a painful wound on the leg of one resident, something that none of the care home workers knew about.
Staff told inspectors they were unaware of the wound as the resident ‘often makes things up’ and ‘complains a lot’.
The home has been operating since 1986 and is registered to provide care to a maximum of 22 older people.
In the last two years, a day care service has also been provided for between two and six people per day on weekdays.
The home will now be kept under review until the next inspection in six month time.
The CQC state that the service should have made significant changes during this time and that if this is not found to be the case at the end of the period, action will be taken.
MM contacted York Lodge Residential Home for comment, but they declined at the time of publication.
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