Damning report finds vulnerable residents at care home not kept safe from abuse
Vulnerable residents were not kept safe from abuse at a care home in Kent, according to a damning report.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) found autistic people and people with learning difficulties at Berkeley House in Sittingbourne were living in unsanitary conditions, until inspectors forced its closure back in October.
In the CQC report, inspectors describe how there was no toilet roll in the bathrooms, bedrooms were dirty, faeces was found on people’s pillows, bedding and chairs, and one person’s bedroom had a strong smell of urine.
Some residents had no bedding at all and some were wearing clothes that were too small for them.
One person had no blinds or curtains and their window was fixed open leaving them exposed to extreme weather.
The unannounced inspection on October 20, was prompted after concerns were raised about poor leadership and poor risk management.
The residential care home, run by The Regard Partnership Ltd, has apologised "unreservedly".
The home was able to provide care to up to 19 people. At the time of the inspection, 16 people were living there in four separate houses.
Following an initial inspection, the CQC changed the overall rating of the service from 'requires improvement' to 'inadequate' and it was placed in special measures.
Immediately after the inspection, seven people were told to move out and the CQC worked with the local authorities to ensure those who remained at the care home were kept from harm.
Since the first inspection, the CQC was informed of further concerns, which led to a second inspection later that month, causing the care home to close with immediate effect.
Debbie Ivanova, CQC’s deputy chief inspector for people with a learning disability and autistic people said: "We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, and independence that most people take for granted.
"Yet when we inspected Berkeley House, we found people were living in appalling conditions.
"After our first inspection, we told the provider it must make urgent improvements, and imposed conditions on the service to ensure that these were made.
"However, after we went back in to inspect on 28 October, The Regard Partnership Limited chose to close the service with immediate effect, giving the authorities and families very little notice to find alternative accommodation for the people living there and causing extreme angst and distress to residents and their families."
A spokesperson for The Regard Partnership Ltd said: "We unreservedly apologise for the unacceptable shortcomings highlighted in the inspection and are treating the CQC’s findings extremely seriously.
"We are clear that the provision fell way below the high standards that the people we support rightly expect and deserve, and that we know we can provide.
"As soon as our CQC and local authority partners determined that people’s needs would be better met in alternative provision, immediate action was taken to instigate this.
"Despite the very short timeframes given to us, which we have since directly raised as a serious concern with the CQC, we implemented numerous recommendations made by the authorities.
"This included rapidly deploying an expert management and support team which worked with the authority to help identify suitable new placements for people.
"We are also undertaking an immediate and thorough investigation into the unacceptable practices raised by the CQC, which are now being robustly addressed and acted upon, so that lessons can be learnt to ensure this does not happen again.
"Every level of our organisation is committed to delivering the best specialist care and support, aimed at helping those we support to live happy, healthy and meaningful lives.
"We wholeheartedly regret that this was not the case on this occasion and we will be doing all we can to continue working closely with people we support, their families, the local authority, CQC and other stakeholders to ensure that people receive the care and support that they rightly expect they deserve."