Chesterfield care home to close down after 'widespread and significant shortfalls'

The closure has been confirmed to the Derbyshire Times by the CQC, with 22 residents set to be affected. It follows an inspection by the CQC in April that found the home required improvement and declared the leadership of the service as ‘inadequate’.

Inspectors visited the premises on April 11 and published their findings earlier this month. Among the key findings were that medicines were not managed safely – meaning people were put at ‘unnecessary risk’, accidents and incident management was not effective’, and that there were ‘widespread and significant shortfalls’ in service leadership.

The service was found to be in breach of health and social care regulations with the CQC saying ‘not enough improvement’ had been made.

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An extract from the report reads: “A positive culture was not always promoted within the service. Disrespectful terminology was used to describe people or incidents. For example, we reviewed accident and incident forms which referred to one person as "a biter" and one which described one person's signs of distress as displaying "absolutely disgusting behaviour" and "a disgusting outburst.

"Managers overlooked the potential impact on people's equality, diversity and human rights needs as these concerns were not identified through their review process. The provider responded to these concerns and assured us this would be addressed by additional training.”

However the report noted: “People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

"The majority of people's care had been reviewed to ensure risks people might face were assessed. Where actions to mitigate risk were identified, staff did not always ensure this was carried out. The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people's needs and keep them safe.”

A spokesperson for the Care Quality Commission said they had been notified that the care home would close ‘voluntarily’.

Elmcare Limited, the care provider for Elmwood House, has been approached for comment.