Hurstead House Nursing Home issued with formal warning

Hurstead House Nursing Home on Halifax Road has been issued with a formal warning by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for failing to meet national standards.

In their report the CQC stated: “There was no registered manager in place at the time of the inspection. The provider told us they had made several attempts to appoint a nurse to this post but had been unsuccessful in finding a suitable candidate.”

Not having a registered manager is a breach of CQC regulation. All managers must be registered with the CQC as well as having the necessary skills and experience to run a care home.

Sevaline Care Homes limited took over the home in August 2013. It is understood that the previous manager of the home left in March and had not been replaced.

During an inspection by the CQC, the home failed four out of five areas assessed.

In addition to not having a registered manager on site, the home had no measures in place to protect people from the risk of cross infection despite being sent a copy of the councils infection control audits after concerns were raised.

There were also no audits of records, medication or staff files and no fire assessment plan or evacuation procedure in place.

The provider also admitted that they had no knowledge that nursing staff needed to be registered with the National Midwifery Council and therefore had not checked staff records.

The report also noted that there were not enough skilled and experienced staff to meet the needs of the people at the home.

The report said: “Prior to our visit we had received information of concern regarding the staffing levels at Hurstead House. We had been told staff seemed to be struggling to cope due to the lack of domestic and laundry staff in the home.

“On the morning of our inspection there were four care staff, one nurse, one domestic and one chef on duty. In the afternoon there were one care staff and one nurse on duty. We saw a volunteer was also supporting staff by undertaking some cleaning tasks and assisting in the kitchen.”

A relative of a resident at the home added: “As staff have left, they are not replaced. The staff are not as on the ball and seem to be floundering because they have no management”.

Dianne David, Assistant Director of Adult Care at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “The quality of our care homes is of huge importance to the council and residents and that’s why we have a robust process in place to monitor them. Our adult care team carries out regular inspections of care homes across the borough. They look at a range of things during these inspections including the care and welfare of service users, nutritional needs and medicine management. We also work closely with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), our adult safeguarding team and relatives or staff who have made complaints to respond to any concerns raised by them.

"As part of our quality monitoring process, we have also recently launched a survey which we send to care home employees and relatives of care home residents to enable them to give us honest feedback in confidence.

“This process means that concerns were picked up some months ago at homes, including Hurstead House, which have been subject to enforcement action by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). As a result of these concerns we suspended all new referrals to Hurstead House. We will not be placing any more residents in the home during the suspension period and will be working closely with them over the coming months to bring the service up to standard. We will only review this suspension once
they have reached this standard and maintained it over a period of time.

“Anyone who is concerned about a care home should speak to their care home manager in the first instance. If they don’t get a satisfactory response they should contact the council’s commissioning team on or 01706 926718. The CQC can be contacted on 03000 616161.”

It is understood that an improvement plan has now been put in place and submitted to the CQC with the recommendation of a new manager. If approved, the new manager will take on the role from the end of September. £40,000 has also been set aside to help refurbish the home over the next 12 months.

Directors of the home could not be reached at the time of publication.