‘Unsafe’ care home ordered to shape up

Attwoods Manor Care Home, in Braintree Road, was visited unannounced by Care Quality Commission inspectors for a focused inspection following critical reports last November and December.

They were also following up concerns raised about staff shortages at weekends and people allegedly not receiving timely care.

The report found one patient had been left without pain relief for five days, while staff were working to reduce the number of falls after several residents suffered bruising.

A handful of staff had a poor grasp of English, the report found, while workers told the inspectors they were often hard-pressed due to shortages.

The report, published this month following the visit in May, stated: “There were not always enough staff sufficiently familiar with people’s needs to deliver safe and effective care.

“Risks to people’s safety were not always well managed.

“Staff were aware of how to safeguard people from the risk of abuse and how to raise a concern if they suspected a person to be at risk of harm or actual abuse.

"However, not all staff had the necessary competencies and understanding.”

The report added: “There were systems in place to ensure people received their medicines safely and by staff who were trained to do so.

“However, people did not always receive their medicines as required and prescribed.”

In terms of staffing, on the day of inspection their were enough staff to deliver safe, effective care, but “staff, relatives and people using the service told us this was not always the case and staff shortages recently had led to compromised care at times”.

The report added: “However, we identified three staff with a poor grasp of English. They were not able to demonstrate sufficient understanding of how to keep people safe.

“The service was not sufficiently proactive in identifying how people were and how their care was being managed.”

Attwoods Manor Care Home did not respond to requests for comment.