Bedford care home with unvaccinated staff is placed in special measures

A care home on De Parys Avenue has been placed in special measures after it emerged there were unvaccinated staff.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated Lillibet House as 'inadequate' overall in an inspection - and in all areas (safety, caring and leadership) following an unannounced visit in November and again in December.

The residential care home caters for up to 30 people with dementia.

Charlotte Chesyre, who runs the home, said: "Both my manager and I are extremely disappointed with the findings of the recent CQC Inspection, particularly after the dedication and hardwork of the staff team during the pandemic over the last two years.

"Our focus remains the safety and wellbeing of our extremely vulnerable residents and we are now working through an action plan with the support of the local authority to ensure that this continues and to address the concerns that have been raised, quickly and effectively."

According to the report - which is available for the public to view here - not only were there unvaccinated staff but there was "relaxed processes for supporting visitors and professionals into the home" and "staff did not always maintain social distances amongst themselves."

As a result of its findings, the health watchdog has made two safeguarding referrals to Bedford Borough Council, saying "we saw examples of potentially abusive care with how people were treated and supported in the home."

The report also found:

*While one person was on the floor, incontinent, a member of staff was heard shouting and swearing about this person. According to inspectors, "a member of staff had left this person, to attend to their own needs, leaving this person alone as they were trying to stand up"

*One person has tried to hurt staff with a piece of equipment. They later hurt a person with the same equipment. According to the health watchdog, "this may have been prevented if a review of the first incident had taken place"

*No risk assessment identified or explored after it emerged one person could "barricade" themselves in the lounge

*There were people living in the home with risk of choking - there was no system or records in place and it was reliant on "the cook's memory"

*There were three unvaccinated staff who were providing care and support - none of them had a medical exemption

*One person needed support eating but staff did not help, which meant they took an hour and a half to finish their food

*There was a lack of cleaning

*The health watchdog also found there were issues with "the transparency of the leadership of the home"

The CQC will keep the home under review and reinspect it in six months.