Regulator Revokes Registration for Three Surrey Care Homes

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has verified the cancellation of a provider’s registration for three care homes located in Surrey, subsequent to all of them receiving inadequate ratings. The regulatory body stated it proceeded with cancelling the registration of Mitchell’s Care Homes Limited concerning Rainscombe Bungalow, Rainscombe House, and Nutbush Cottage. These facilities offered care to individuals with autism or learning disabilities. A spokesperson indicated that “very little progress” had been made regarding essential improvements previously identified during earlier inspections. A representative for Mitchell’s Care Homes Limited commented that “teams worked hard to ensure openness and transparency” and that the choice to close the homes situated near Horley was taken “with great sadness and regret”. They further stated that the provider maintained its disagreement with numerous assertions presented in the inspection reports and held the belief that the CQC “intended to punish” them for pursuing an appeal. The provider considered a “significant number of the claims reported have been unfair and undeserved,” they also noted. The CQC reported that the provider had utilized its right to appeal the CQC’s decision to the Care Standards Tribunal, but subsequently retracted the appeal during the ongoing proceedings. The inspection report for Rainscombe House highlighted concerns that residents were “at risk of abuse due to institutional neglect”. Inspectors noted a “disused radiator against the wall with a large shard of glass leaning up against it” in the garden area, alongside potential harm to individuals during eating and drinking. At Rainscombe Bungalow, inspectors observed that staff were not adhering to established procedures designed to protect individuals from harm and shield them from emotional abuse. For the third facility, Nutbush Cottage, inspectors reported witnessing staff not consistently treating individuals with honesty and kindness. Amy Jupp, the CQC deputy director of operations in the south, stated: “At previous inspections of Rainscombe House we found people weren’t being treated with kindness, compassion and dignity, and this hadn’t improved. “We saw most staff didn’t acknowledge people’s presence and they didn’t treat the service as the home of the people living there.”” She also mentioned that individuals faced a risk of financial abuse, and at Rainscombe Bungalow, records indicated discrepancies between the daily balance of residents’ personal funds and expenditures. Inspections of the three homes took place in June and August, serving as a follow-up to assess improvements since the prior CQC inspections conducted in November 2023. A spokesperson for Mitchell’s affirmed that the company’s future efforts would concentrate on “providing and continually improving the supported care services we deliver in the community”. “We have openly acknowledged shortcomings whenever they were fairly identified and were taking active, positive steps to address aspects of our service and settings,” the spokesperson further stated.