Care home bosses vow to help troubled Wigan centre

Bosses of a company who were brought in to help save a troubled Wigan care home have reassured families that they are working to improve the standards following another critical watchdog report.
The Acorns Care CentreThe Acorns Care Centre
The Acorns Care Centre

Acorns Care Centre in Hindley came under fire from the Care Quality Commission following its latest inspection in November, during which officers found the home requires further improvements.

The Parkside care home has a chequered history- with concerns over safety standards being raised as far back as December 2013 - when reports were made to the CQC.

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Since 2014, the home has never received a “good” or “outstanding” report and following a review in November 2017, was put into special measures.

As part of ongoing scrutiny into the provider, the health and social care watchdog took enforcement action in July this year and another inspection was carried out during which several concerns were raised.

Three months on, inspectors have revisited the care home, rating it as “requires improvement” with three “good” areas of assessment.

However, the CQC says that despite “significant improvements”, Acorns Care Centre has breached several health and care regulations by failing to manage patients’ medicine correctly.

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At the time of the most recent inspections in October, the CQC cancelled the registration of Kevin Hall, leaving the care home with no registered manager.

The subsequent report, which was released this week, says: “Because of the significant improvements identified, we have withdrawn the enforcement action taken regarding the home following our November 2017 inspection when the home was rated inadequate.

“We have completed our enforcement action taken against the registered manager and cancelled their registration with CQC.

“The home continues to be supported by the local authority through a service improvement plan (SIP) and we attend meetings bi-monthly to monitor the homes progress.” Ben Challinor, Caresolve’s consultancy director, spoke about the work being done to improve the home.

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“We were engaged by Acorns following a CQC inspection in November 2017 in which the home was rated inadequate,” he said.

“We have since been working closely with both the owner and manager of the home to address all issues highlighted in the report.

“During the October 8 inspection, the CQC recognised that further improvements had been made with three of the expected standards now rated as Good and the other two rated as Requires Improvement.”

“We expect these standards to improve again when the newly appointed home manager has been registered with the CQC.

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“Caresolve continues to work with the local authority and the CQC to ensure improvements are made and the home’s residents receive the service they want.”

Caresolve’s care home management service offers operational and regulatory management as well as financial management support at both a day-to-day and director level.

The company will now have to report back to the the CQC to explain how it is addressing any of the concerns raised.