Grey Gables care home in Kennard Road, New Milton ‘requires improvement’ rules Care Quality Commission

A CARE home in New Milton must improve after inspectors found breaches relating to safe care and treatment, staffing and consent.

Grey Gables in Kennard Road was assessed earlier this year by the Care Quality Commission following concerns. The property, run by Grey Gables New Milton Limited, provides accommodation for people requiring nursing or personal care, as well as those with dementia.

A report, published on 20th November, said that while the ‘caring’ and ‘responsive’ parts of the inspection were ‘rated good’, the service overall required improvement, particularly in the ‘safe’, ‘effective’ and ‘well-led’ categories.

The report said: “At this assessment we found breaches of regulation relating to safe care and treatment, staffing, consent, dignity and respect, good governance and notifications.

“Safeguarding systems, processes and practice were not always effective in protecting people from abuse and ensuring their human rights were upheld. Risks to people were not always assessed or mitigated [and] staff did not receive appropriate and relevant training to enable them to carry out their roles.”

It said medicines were mostly managed safely, but consent to care and treatment was not always sought in line with relevant guidance and legislation.

Governance and management systems were not effective to monitor and improve quality and safety, it added.

The report explained that although the service primarily supported older people and and those with dementia, there were also four people who had a learning disability living there.

It added: “Therefore, we assessed the service against ‘right support, right care, right culture’ statutory guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.

“We found the service was not supporting people with a learning disability in line with this statutory guidance. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.”

Feedback from people and their relatives was mostly positive, the report said; however, the assessment found elements of care did not meet the expected standards.

The facility previously received a rating of ‘good’ at its last inspection in 2019.