Cleggsworth Care Home put into special measures after being rated 'inadequate'

Cleggsworth Care Home

Cleggsworth Care Home on Little Clegg Road, Littleborough, has been rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and has been put into special measures until significant improvements are made.

During an unannounced inspection, the CQC found that the home had just one working shower for 26 residents and that two showers had not been working for two weeks.

The report said: “There were three showers in the home but members of staff told us that two of these had not been working for two weeks. There were two bathrooms and four care workers told us that they did not know how to use the assisted baths and neither of the baths were in full working order.”

The report also detailed how one resident was kept waiting to use the toilet for “at least half an hour” and that “three people were walking around in wet clothes”.

It said: “During our inspection we saw that people in the lounges were left unsupervised for long periods of time. We saw that one person kept asking to go to the toilet and was kept waiting for at least half an hour. We also saw three people walking about in wet clothes waiting to be taken to the toilet.”

The home was also described as “filthy” by a resident’s family member and the CQC described cleanliness levels at the home as “below an acceptable standard”.

The report stated: “Throughout the home we saw that the skirting boards and window ledges were dusty and dirty. Almost all of the toilets in the home were dirty. One person who used the service said ‘The toiles have been bunged up and dirty.”

“The carpets were dirty and then in some areas decorations looked shabby.

“There was an unpleasant odour in five of the bedrooms. In one bedroom dirty underwear had been left on the floor. Wastepaper baskets were full of rubbish in the lounges and the bedrooms. In one of the bedrooms an incontinence pad had been put into the rubbish bin causing an unpleasant odour. In another bedroom we saw the rubbish bin was overflowing with dead flowers, which again caused an unpleasant odour.”

Some staff members told inspectors that First Aid training consisted of “watching a DVD about First Aid awareness”. This was later confirmed by the Assistant Director who added that, “First Aid training provided only involved watching a First Aid awareness DVD and did not include any practical training.”

Medicine was also found to not be given during regular intervals as staff told inspectors that, “night staff were not allowed to give people medicines except for paracetamol”.

The report added: “This meant that people were given their medicines between 8am and 8pm and medicines prescribed to be given three or four times a day were not being given at regular intervals. Not allowing sufficient time between doses of medicine could seriously affect the health and wellbeing of people who use the service.”

The CQC concluded: “The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘Special Measures.’ The service will be kept under review and if we have not taken immediate action to propose to cancel the provider’s registration of the service, it will be inspected again within six months.

“The expectation is that providers found to have been providing inadequate care should have made significant improvements within this timeframe.”

Cleggsworth House Director John Heinz said: “The dignity, care and wellbeing of our residents is our highest priority and we take the CQC’s report extremely seriously. We have operated this home for eight years and have previously had compliant reports with the CQC.

“The issues identified in this report have led to a change in management at Cleggsworth House and we can already see a vast improvement in the care delivered.

“We have recently had an overall rating of ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission in our sister home, which is situated within the immediate vicinity of Cleggsworth. Therefore as a provider, we are confident in our robust management monitoring system to ensure the recent changes at Cleggsworth are maintained and constantly evaluated.

“We look forward to the inspectors returning to the home and are confident they will see the significant changes we have implemented.”