Care home requires improvement and is ordered to make changes by watchdog

Primrose Villa Care Home, in Standish, was rapped by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) when it found problems with how the terms of the Mental Capacity Act were followed and how Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards were managed.

Other news: Car abandoned in Wigan alleyway for weeks is torchedFluctuating staffing levels, the robustness of auditing at the Preston Road home, operated by Diamond Healthcare, and the involvement of people in resident meetings and questionnaires also came in for criticism.

Overall the home was not given a satisfactory rating for two of the CQC’s five major criteria, being judged to “require improvement” in how effective and well-led it was.

The other three areas were given a good rating but this was not enough to produce a satisfactory overall outcome.

It was also a step backwards for the Standish home, which has previously had poor ratings from the CQC but was judged to be good when inspectors visited in 2018.

The team carrying out the visit to Primrose Villa, which provides personal care and support for up to 15 people, found residents and their families thought the standard of care provided was good, feeling they were safe and well looked after with staff trained to report concerns about safeguarding.

However, the CQC found staffing levels were not consistent during the week and has recommended the manager looks at how to ensure there are not more people working on some days compared to others.

The home was clean, with infection control processes in place, and medicines were managed safely. The picture of the building’s exterior itself shows that the home has a maximum five score after its latest food hygiene inspection.

The CQC said risk management was acceptable, with assessment regularly reviewed to take into account people’s changing needs.

The staff themselves spoke positively about support and training, while residents told the inspectors the employees at Primrose Villa were kind, caring and treated them with dignity and respect while also clearly knowing them as individuals.

Files contained personalised information about the people living there and activities were put on to meet their social and recreational needs.

However, the systems in place to monitor the service’s quality and effectiveness needed strengthening, although a home improvement plan had been drawn up.

The CQC will now keep in contact with the provider until another inspection to make sure action is being taken in the areas currently deemed to fall short.

A spokesperson for Diamond Healthcare said “everything is fine” when the Wigan Post contacted the company for a comment on the CQC’s report, and declined to respond further to questions asked about the shortcomings and required improvements flagged up in the inspection report.