'Inadequate' care home told to improve or face closure

Haringey Association for Independent Living says it takes latest damning inspection report ‘extremely seriously’, reports Simon Allin, Local Democracy Reporter

The care home at 68 Great North Road (credit Google Streetview) — The care home at 68 Great North Road (credit Google)

An East Finchley care home has been rated ‘inadequate’ for the second time in a row and could now face closure if it fails to improve.

The home at 68 Great North Road, which cares for up to five people with a learning disability, was rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following inspections in October and November.

It was previously rated inadequate by the care watchdog in April last year. In a report published on Friday (3rd), CQC found some improvements had been made but the provider remained in breach of regulations. The home will stay in special measures and could be closed down if it does not make sufficient improvements within six months.

Haringey Association for Independent Living (Hail), which runs the care home, says it takes the report “extremely seriously” and is committed to ensuring the best outcome for service users.

During the latest inspection, CQC found there was a lack of social activity for people during the evenings and at weekends. The watchdog said residents sometimes went to bed early and spent the evening alone in their room when it was not clear whether this was their choice.

One care home resident spent an afternoon and evening in bed with no personal care – and staff did not recognise that this was unacceptable.

CQC said there was “a lack of assurance that staff were trained to understand learning disability and people’s rights”.

Inspectors also found one person had been left in bed with no personal care provided and no evidence of being supported to change position for seven hours. The resident was given their evening meal sitting up in bed, despite their eating and drinking guidelines stating that they should be sitting upright in their wheelchair to eat.

The care watchdog found the home was in breach of regulations over a failure to manage people’s medicines safely. It also criticised “ineffective” management oversight and recruitment practices that were “not consistently safe”.

Inspectors noted there were “some positive caring interactions where some staff were kind and supportive to people”.

Debbie Ivanova, the CQC’s director for people with a learning disability and autistic people, said it was unacceptable that the service’s care “continued to be below standards people have a right to expect”.

Debbie added: “We’ve reported our findings to Haringey Association for Independent Living, so it knows where it must make improvements to ensure people receive better care.

“If our next inspection finds adequate progress hasn’t been made, we won’t hesitate to take further action.”

Paul Allen, chief executive of Hail, said: “We take the CQC report extremely seriously. Hail is committed to ensuring the best outcome for our service users is achieved under these very difficult circumstances, and we will be working with the London Borough of Haringey [the council] and other stakeholders to ensure this happens.”

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