Poulton care home still 'requires improvement' after latest CQC inspection despite positive progress

The industry watchdog said safety measures had improved since its last inspection, but further improvements were required.

Alexandra Nursing Home in Moorland Road, Poulton, was ordered to improve by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following an inspection in November last year.

Inspectors rated the care home's safety measures as "inadequate," amid concerns "people were not safe and were at risk of avoidable harm."

The home was found to be "good" when it came to effective service and the caring nature of staff, but responsiveness and leadership were marked at "requires improvement."

These ratings have remained the same since its latest inspection, but safety measures have now moved up from "inadequate" to "requires improvement."

The findings prompted the management team at Alexandra to reassess the service, and they said they were "confident all issues had been fixed."

The CQC, which has been inspecting care providers as part of reviews to ensure that Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) practice is safe during the pandemic, dropped the care home's overall rating down from "good" to "requires improvement" in November.

But while its latest inspection deemed safety measures to have improved and no aspect of care was rated "inadequate" this time, officers said further improvements were still required.

The report showed that medicines management needed improving, and "people's health was still at risk of harm."

"Medicines were not always given at the correct times," and "we found no evidence people had been harmed, however this could result in people being in pain," inspectors said.

Waste and unwanted medicines were not stored safely in line with current guidance, and some medical records were inaccurate, documents showed.

The care home was also ordered to improve its record-keeping and risk management at the inspection.

Inspectors found that the home "had not ensured records kept in respect of service users, their treatment and the management of the service were accurate and contemporaneous."

Risk management strategies were of concern, as the home was deemed not to have "ensured risks related to behaviours which may challenge the service were managed effectively and safely."

Despite its shortcomings, staff were found to have implemented policies and procedures to improve in other areas.

The CQC said it was satisfied that fire safety regulations had improved, and after "serious concerns" for the prevention and control of infection last year, staff were no longer in breach of those regulations.

Concerns about inadequate staff training were reported in the last inspection, but the watchdog said improvements had been made in this area since.

The service must now put together an action plan to inform the CQC how it plans to undertake the necessary improvements.

Alexandra Nursing Home received positive feedback from service users, documents showed, as one resident told the CQC: "They are very kind to us and make us feel wanted."

A spokesman for the care home said: "Following on from our second CQC inspection on the back of the disappointing previous one we have taken huge strides in the right direction and rectified most of the immediate issues the inspection pulled up.

"We strive to move to a "good" rating which we expect to achieve in our next inspection. Unfortunately as per the inspection methodology it is not possible to achieve a "good" rating from an inadequate one, as an embedded practice needs to be demonstrated over a longer period of time.

"We were inspected after a three month period in which significant improvements have been made. We are striving to further improve and maintain a culture of continuous improvement which sets us in good stead for the future.

"We have managed to achieve “full assurance” in all areas in Infection Prevention and Control, and are confident moving forward we will provide a “good” service to all."