A Knutsford care home has been slammed for it’s “insufficient staffing levels” in an unannounced inspection carried out by the Care Quality Commission.
Tabley House, which houses 59 adults, was branded ‘inadequate’ by the health watchdog and was placed into the ‘special measures’ category.
The watchdog identified a series of problems with the care home on Tabley Lane.
It stated that “people’s capacity were not assessed in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005” with cases of adults who had their “bed heightened so they couldn’t not get in them” and an incident of a resident who “was placed in a recliner chair during the day to prevent them from getting up unsupervised.”
The report also revealed that “medicines were not safely managed” by staff and that some patients were using medicines which were not actually prescribed to them.
It said: “We saw that one person’s thickener was used for other people in the home who had not been prescribed it. Staff lacked sufficient guidance on the application of prescribed creams and other topical medications.”
When asked whether the staff knew what the residents liked or disliked, one resident said: ”No, I don’t think they know me well. They’re not used to limbless people; they don’t understand that I do my own thing.”
In a report littered with multiple shortcomings, the CQC inspectors also concluded that the care home was in no way “dementia friendly”.
“There was no adequate signage within the home to help people find their way around and no contrasting colour schemes to help people differentiate between different areas of the home”.
The CQC said the service will continue to be reviewed and if conditions remained the same another inspection would be conducted within 6 months.
They have stressed the need for an urgent plan to be drawn up by the management of the care home, stating: “If there is not enough improvement we will move to close the service.”
Despite several attempts to get a comment from bosses at the care home, which is operated by Cygnet Nursing Homes, no one was available as we went to press.
