Care home hit with warning makes ‘major improvements’

A care home for the elderly that was slapped with a warning by the health watchdog last year has made ‘significant and major improvements’.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) found that Passmonds House, at Passmonds in Rochdale, was in breach of regulations due to hygiene, infection control and maintenance failings when officials carried out an inspection in March.

But a new report has rated the Edenfield Road establishment as ‘good’ overall, after an unannounced follow-up visit to check the required progress had been made.

Categories including effectiveness, caring, responsiveness and leadership were all rated as good, although safety still ‘requires improvement’.

Owner Dhan Ramjuttun said he was delighted by the turnaround.

He said: “I’m obviously ecstatic, we put a lot of hard work in there and it worked out, there was a lot of investment and the hard work has paid off.

“We’ve been waiting for the CQC to come back so we are really glad that they have given us a ‘good’ rating.”

The report details some of the improvements at the home found by inspectors on the follow-up visit, which took place in early December.

It reads: “Structural repairs and reorganisation of the basement area had been carried out to ensure that this area was safe and clean, and the registered manager had introduced more stringent measures to control and prevent the spread of infection.

“The housekeeping hours had been increased and a cleaning schedule had helped to improve the standards of hygiene and cleanliness of the service.”

There was also praise for the caring approach of staff at the 33-room care home, which is next to Denehurst Park.

The report adds: “We observed good caring interventions between the people who lived at Passmonds House and staff who worked there.

“It was clear staff understood not only what support people needed but also how they liked to be assisted. People were treated with kindness and patience and had been encouraged to form their own friendship groups.”

Inspectors noted that care-plans for residents were comprehensive and ‘reflected people’s needs, wishes and how they liked their care to be delivered’.

The report says: “We saw that there were some activities available, and staff would spend time with people engaging in conversation or pastimes when they were able to.”

Staff were also said to understand how to keep people safe from harm, while a safeguarding policy helped to protect residents from abuse.

Systems are also in place to ensure medicines are stored correctly and managed by trained staff.

The report also noted that steps had been taken to minimise the risks to residents – including where a person’s behaviour could be harmful to themselves or others.

But, while touring the building, inspectors found some potentially harmful cleaning and grooming products, had not been properly secured.

This led to inspectors finding that the home was ‘not consistently safe’ and still required improvement in this area.

Mr Ramjuttun said that measures were now in place to ensure this cannot happen again, including regular checks to ensure no items have been left ‘lying around’ by residents.

Nick Statham, Local Democracy Reporter