Watchdog blast for care home which was subject of abuse allegations

Lymewood Court Nursing Home in Haydock has been rated as “requires improvements” following an unannounced visit from the Care Quality Commission earlier this year.

The Piele Road care provider has slipped from a “good” rating back in October 2018, showing failings in both the “safe” and “well-led” categories, during the March inspection.

Before the inspection, CQC officers reviewed information which they had received since the last inspection including “details about incidents the provider must notify them about, such as abuse”.

In February 2018, three staff members were charged with wilfully neglecting a patient but the charges were later dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service due to a lack of evidence.

When visiting, inspectors found that not enough changes had been made to improve the safety of its residents, some of whom suffer from dementia. The officers wrote: “The providers processes for checking on the quality and safety of the service were not always effective in identifying and mitigating risk to people.

“The provider did not have sufficient oversight of the service to ensure consistent leadership and the delivery of safe care. There was a lack of partnership working with external agencies which delayed a safeguarding investigation.”

Inspectors also made recommendations about infection prevention and control.

They added: “People were not fully protected from the risk of the spread of infection and risks to their health and safety. Clinical waste was not safely managed, and equipment used for people was not kept clean and hygienic. Action was taken at the time of the inspection to mitigate the risk of the spread of infection.”

The CQC found that although medicine management had improved, there were still shortcomings which required action. They said that medication administration records lacked information about prescribed creams and how they were to be used.

There also needed to be a consistent approach to ensuring the safe management of medicines.

Despite this, the home was praised for its recruitment processes, with inspectors saying that there were enough “skilled and experienced” staff on duty at any given times to safely meet any resident’s needs.

It also received a “good” rating in the “effective” “responsive” and “caring” sections of the assessment.

The CQC will continue to work alongside Lymewood Court Nursing Home, St Helens Council and St Helens Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to monitor progress.