Devon Care Home Receives Second Inadequate Rating

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has announced that a care home located in Devon has been placed under “special measures” aimed at safeguarding its residents, following its second consecutive “inadequate” rating. Moors Park House, situated in Bishopsteignton and operated by Moors Park (Bishopsteignton) Limited, offers residential services for as many as 37 elderly individuals, including some who are living with dementia. The CQC’s inspection, conducted to assess the progress on improvements mandated for the home in April 2023, resulted once more in an overall “inadequate” rating. Moors Park Limited stated that the inspection, which occurred half a year prior, “in no way reflects the way the service is currently”. Moors Park Limited commented: “Moors Park House has been in a quality support process run by Devon County Council with regular visits to the service and regular meetings to discuss progress. “The CQC inspector has participated in these meetings and is therefore fully aware of the progress made over the past six months.” The CQC’s assessment of the effectiveness of Moors Park’s service improved from “inadequate” to “good,” while the categories for caring and responsiveness continued to be rated as “requiring improvement.” Catherine Campbell, the CQC’s deputy director of operations in the south, indicated that the service would continue under special measures until improvements are implemented. She stated: “Leaders had still not taken enough action to address our serious concerns around the quality of care being provided – the service had a high reliance on agency staff which impacted care, especially when they hadn’t worked at the service before. “Staff told us vacancies meant sometimes people didn’t get out of bed or have a bath or shower, nor did they get to spend quality time with other people at the home. “Staff and the local authority had raised concerns about staffing levels with managers, but this hadn’t been addressed by leaders.” The CQC reported that certain residents were not receiving their prescribed medications, with errors occurring because staff were unable to confirm correct administration, and individuals were not consistently safeguarded from abuse and inappropriate treatment. Ms Campbell commented: “We found incidents where staff didn’t always identify allegations of abuse or make safeguarding referrals to the local authority in line with the services’ policy. “This put people at risk of harm as incidents weren’t always investigated properly and lessons learned to help prevent them from happening again.” Additional concerns identified encompassed overgrown fingernails exhibiting chipped varnish and dirt under the nails, an absence of systems to track residents’ fluid intake, thereby posing a risk of dehydration, and worries regarding the uniformity of quality care. Moors Park Limited stated: “A careful reading of the report does demonstrate improvements at the time of the inspection compared to previously, and whilst we acknowledge that there were occasions when processes were not fully effective, the intent was there.”We observe that although the report points to deficiencies in quality assurance, nevertheless residents and families were reporting general satisfaction with the service.” The company expressed that it considered it “unfair to criticise” its reliance on agency staff, citing a “well publicised national shortage of care workers,” and indicated its intention to submit a request for a review to have its rating amended to ‘requires improvement’. For updates, BBC Devon can be followed on X, Facebook, and Instagram. Story ideas can be sent to spotlight@bbc.co.uk. This content is copyrighted by BBC 2024, with all rights reserved. The BBC disclaims responsibility for the content found on external websites. Further information regarding its approach to external linking is available.