Has anyone had experience of their care’s care home being rated “inadequate” and placed in special measures?
Would be interested to hear whether the home improved enough to get a better rating, how you felt about it and did you consider moving your caree?
We have just entered this scenario and are concerned.
Hi Pennie … not a very nice situation ?
( As many as 1 in 5 reported inadequate … BBC September 2018 … and likely to increase. )
My recommendation would be AGE UK … given their specialised field , a problem not too uncommon for them ?
Hopefully , others will be along with some first hand experience.
Have you viewed the cqc audit report, available online, to see what the findings were?
I’ve not had experience of a care home being rated inadequate but one of mum’s home care agencies was. The actual care seemed pretty decent. In mum’s agency there were deficiencies mainly in management rather than in client care.
Have you been happy about the care received so far, or have you encountered problems?
CQC … Care Quality Commission … web site :
https://www.cqc.org.uk/
SEARCH facility amongst one of the better ones out there.
My mum was in a very posh hotel like nursing home, that had just been given a warning after inspection. Lack of staff meant people were waiting too long for attention. This meant that a lot of extra attention was given to the home, from management and CQC, and things improved very quickly.
Maybe ask for a meeting with the home and ask what they are doing about it?
We are waiting for the CQC’s inspection report to be published. The “inadequate” rating was flagged up by management at a recent relatives meeting.
As the “sister” home on the same site has already just received its own “inadequate” rating (and was looked after by the same manager), then it’s not hard to predict what the inspection report will contain!
Mum is reasonably happy at the home. She doesn’t require much “hands on” care and doesn’t mix or move out of her room, enjoying her television, newspapers, puzzles etc. Most of her complaints against the home consist of problems with food and laundry (both ongoing problems that have been raised many times at various relatives meetings).
Just trying to work out whether we should start looking at some alternative accommodation if the worst comes to the worst (ie. no improvement, de-registered and closed) …
That will be the very last resort, as uprooting elderly settled people is not in their best interests.
Hi Pennie,
If your Mum is happy and you aren’t unduly concerned then I think I’d be inclined to leave her where she is for now. If your Mum still has the ability to complain when something it is wrong, she is less at risk than someone unable to speak up? I suspect the company will be replacing the manager.
I think it would be prudent however, to do some homework on what else is available, just in case you need a plan B.
Melly1
That manager left two months ago and was replaced by someone who had come up “through the ranks” of the care home. He seemed to be very much a “new broom” and actually requested for an inspection to be done. Last week we learnt that he, too, had left and a new manager starts on Monday!
Oh Pennie
That happened several times in my lovely late husband’s nursing home. One stayed a week!! The staff had a pretend bets on how long each manager would stay. As relatives it concerned us greatly.
People coming up through the ranks are usually a disaster, because there is so much finance, regulation, etc. that they just don’t understand. It would be really helpful if there was a course available for care home managers, like an apprenticeship, so that they could all learn to do the job properly.
When I did my Business Studies degree, “Community Care” was just being introduced. My dissertation was called “Home from Home” Setting up a care home for young adults in a rural community. Someone who ran a home for the NHS kindly gave me lots of information, on the understanding that I didn’t divulge the source. It was a real eye opener, especially staffing.
Lots of things that my degree hadn’t covered.