Derbyshire care home ‘requires improvement’ as CQC inspection follows concerns about quality and safety

The Old Vicarage Care Home at Stretton Road in Clay Cross is a care home providing accommodation in for up to 44 adults.

The report published on Friday, June 9, following a CQC inspection in March, found that the care home ‘requires improvement’.

Safety, care and responsiveness have been rated as ‘good’ while effectiveness and leadership ‘require improvements’.

Inspectors have found that care home breached Regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act Regulations 2014.

The report said: “The provider had not consistently ensured effective governance, oversight and management of the service for the quality and safety of people's care, along with timely service improvement when needed. This meant there was a risk to people from this, of receiving unsafe or ineffective care. This was a breach of Regulation 17.”

Inspectors have found that both effectiveness and leadership of care deteriorated since the last inspection, and now require improvement.

The report said that gaps in the ‘governance framework’ resulted in ‘significant delays in ensuring timely service improvement for people's care, when needed.’ This included staffing, care planning, complaints handling, and people's health monitoring and referral.

The report added: “The provider's governance policy was not sufficient or robust and referenced out-of-date legislation, which informed the policy. Delegation arrangements for effective management communication and decision making regarding the service, were not fully identified.

"There was no registered manager for the service and a history of high manager turnover. Recruitment had commenced to address this, and suitable interim management arrangements were confirmed.

“The provider told us they had commenced steps to introduce a revised, branded quality assurance system for the service. However, there was no operational evidence or any identified timescale for completion.

“A range of management, staffing and care improvements were either recently made or in progress. However efficacy was not yet demonstrated, as the improvements were either not yet fully embedded, or demonstrated as sustained and ongoing for people's care.

Inspectors found that staff were trained but not ‘effectively supervised for their role and responsibilities’. Staff were not all satisfied regarding the level of management support during their care induction at the service, which has been confirmed in a recent staff survey conducted by the provider. Inspectors said that management remedial actions were in progress to rectify this.

The report added: "People, relatives and staff were somewhat confident in the management of the service, following the recent appointment of a deputy manager. However, most held reservations due to the high manager turnover and the impact previously experienced from this in relation to staffing, complaints and concerns handling.

“Complaints and concerns, including those raised by staff, were not always effectively handled and responded to in a timely manner. Remedial management action had commenced to rectify this, to help inform and improve people's care when needed."

The Old Vicarage Care Home was contacted for a comment.