The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Bethany House in Harrogate, inadequate and placed the home into special measures to protect people, following an inspection in April and May.
Bethany House, run by Franklin Homes Limited, provides accommodation and personal care to autistic people and people with a learning disability or mental health needs.
The inspection was undertaken to follow up on concerns raised with CQC about the quality of care being provided to people.
Following this inspection, CQC has rated the areas of safe and effective, as inadequate. Caring, well-led and responsive are rated requires improvement. Inspectors identified four breaches of regulation relating to safe care and treatment, person centred care, the safety of the home environment, and how the home is managed.
CQC has also placed the service into special measures which involves close monitoring to ensure people are safe while they make improvements. Special measures also provides a structured timeframe so services understand when they need to make improvements by, and what action CQC will take if this doesn’t happen.
Alan Stephenson, CQC deputy director of operations in the north, said:
When we inspected Bethany House, leaders had made little improvement since our last inspection, and we found a deterioration in the quality of care being provided. A new interim manager was in place who was focusing on driving improvement, but it was too early to see any real progress.
Leaders failed to act when people had experienced dehydration whilst living at the home. Staff’s monitoring of people’s fluid intake was poor which placed people at risk of recurring harm and further dehydration.
Staff sometimes ignored recommendations from other health professionals. For example, staff didn’t support people to carry out recommended exercises to aid their mobility, which impacted people’s quality of life. Managers also failed to refer someone to see a psychologist as recommended.
Leaders had allowed a decline in people participating in activities to happen which affected people’s wellbeing and happiness. Two people who used to enjoy outings to cafes, clubs and events, were now sat in their rooms for longer periods of time which placed them at risk of loneliness.
We have told leaders where we expect to see rapid, and continued improvements. Leaders were responsive to our feedback and took action to address our concerns following the inspection. We will return to check on their progress and won’t hesitate to use our regulatory powers further if people still aren’t receiving the care they have a right to expect.
Inspectors found:
Staff didn’t always ensure people’s care plans were accurate and fully reflected their needs.
Leaders hadn’t made sure the environment was safe for people.
Managers didn’t always ensure staff had clear or consistent guidance to enable them to support people safely.
Staff didn’t always administer or manage people’s medicines safely.
Leaders didn’t always work well with people and healthcare partners to establish and maintain safe systems of care.
However:
Leaders identified that some staff didn’t feel comfortable speaking up and had taken steps to address this.
Staff sought people’s consent before carrying out tasks to ensure they were comfortable.
Staff spoke with people respectfully and with kindness.
The report will be published on CQC’s website in the next few days.
