CQC issues warning to Woodside Lodge care home in Bransgore over safety breaches
INSPECTORS have issued a warning notice to a New Forest care home after finding its safety standards were “inadequate”.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) ruled Bransgore’s Woodside Lodge is “failing” to meet care, safeguarding and governance regulations.
Where the CQC issues warning notices, it follows up to ensure action is being taken to address regulation breaches.
Following a site inspection in April, inspectors rated the home in Burley Road as ‘requires improvement’.
In five inspection categories, the home was rated ‘inadequate’ in terms of safety, ‘requires improvement’ in terms of being effective, caring and well-led and ‘good’ in terms of being responsive.
Inspectors said they undertook the assessment following “information of concern we received about this service”.
The report adds: “At this assessment we found the provider was in breach of seven regulations. The provider failed to ensure they consistently provided person-centred care, need for consent, safe care and treatment, safeguarding, good governance, staffing, and fit and proper persons employed.
“The provider did not consistently protect people from abuse and did not always share safeguarding information that was required. Risks to people and health and safety risks were not always assessed or appropriately manage. People’s medicines were not safely managed.
“People were not always supported by staff who had the relevant skills, knowledge and training to meet their needs.”
Inspectors found the home’s recruitment practices were “not in line” with requirements and care records were not always in place, up to date or “robust”.
The report continued: “Where people lacked capacity, practices were not undertaken in-line with legislation. People did not consistently receive person-centred and appropriate care that was responsive to their needs.
“We found a number of significant concerns at this assessment and were not assured that the provider’s governance ensured people always received safe, effective, good quality care.
“Whilst most people expressed that they were generally happy with their care, our assessment found elements of care did not meet the expected standards.
“We found the provider was failing to meet their legal requirements and were in breach of four legal regulations. We identified significant and widespread concerns in respect of people’s safe care and treatment, safeguarding and staffing and fit and proper persons employed.”
Inspectors found the home did not “consistently” protect people from abuse and improper treatment. They also wrote that carers did not always share safeguarding information or make referrals in line with policy and that individual risks to people were not always assessed, while risks to people’s health and safety were not “appropriately managed”.
A spokesperson for the care home told the A&T: “Woodside Lodge was inspected under the Care Quality Commission’s new assessment process in May 2024. We would like to thank the CQC team for working with us to highlight some areas requiring improvement.
“Since May we have worked hard on these areas and have made lasting changes which have improved the quality of the services we provide. We have invested heavily in the premises, on staff training and new IT systems to help us document care provided using the best possible software.
“We are confident that Woodside Lodge will be rated ‘good’ at our next CQC assessment, which was the rating that we had held for many years prior to this inspection.”
