Safety fears continue at Wigan care home after new review

The Haighfield Care Home on Wigan Road, which provides accommodation alongside nursing or personal care, originally received such instructions from the Care Quality Commission after an inspection in June 2016 but was found to be still falling short when auditors returned last November.

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Concerns have been raised regarding the safeguarding, with fears that the home was not following protocol in reporting potential incidents of abuse to Wigan Council at the time of the review.

The CQC inspector wrote: “We found systems required strengthening regarding both the identification of safeguarding concerns and reporting procedures to the local authority.

“We acknowledged the registered manager had put in measures to address the concerns and there had been a misinterpretation of the local protocols.

“Management informed us they would attend the local authority safeguarding training to address this deficit in knowledge and understanding.”

Haighfield, which cares for a maximum of 45 people at a time, has been marked down for safety and the quality of management - the same areas which were criticised in the 2016 inspection.

The care service has been deemed “good” when it comes to being caring, effective and responsive.

The inspector added: “Everyone interviewed commented highly on the standard of care and the quality of the staff working at Haighfield Care Home.

“Everyone spoken with said the home was a friendly, caring and warm environment and all the relatives and visitors to the home said they would recommend the home to others.

“During our visit, we observed staff supporting and interacting with people in an appropriate manner. People were referred to by name and there was banter and laughing heard between people and staff.

“We observed staff knocking on bedroom doors before entering and witnessed staff explaining to people what they were doing before undertaking care tasks to avoid causing distress or upset.”

Following the visit, management at Haighfield Care Home have been told to provide an effective system to identify and report potential abuse to Wigan Council.

CQC inspectors have outlined plans to check that the action has been taken.