Inspectors find broken furniture and unclean bathroom at council-run Kempston care home
A health watchdog has criticised Brookside care home and given it an overall rating of ‘requires improvement’.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) made two visits to the council-run Kempston home in March and April and has now published its findings.
As well as the overall rating, inspectors also said two aspects it critiques – safety and leadership – ‘required improvement’ and served the council with section 29 warning notices.
But the other aspects – whether the service in Kempston’s High Street was effective, caring and responsive – were rated ‘good’.
We’ve approached Bedford Borough Council for comment on multiple occasions and despite being assured a response would be forthcoming, nothing has materialised.
Inspectors said: “We found accessible used razors, damaged furniture ... effectively increasing the risk of germs harbouring, and a communal bathroom was unclean and inconsistent fridge and freezer temperature checks that could increase the risk of infection. Externally we observed there to be items such as rubbish bags or furniture that needed to be disposed of.”
The health watchdog also found:
>The provider could not demonstrate staff were consistently trained and competent in key risk areas
>It also did not always ensure people’s medicines were managed safely with expired and undated topical medicines
>As well as as broken furniture, window restrictors had not been fitted in line with national guidance
>People were not always protected from potential abuse
>The provider did not demonstrate an effective learning culture during this inspection
>Several safeguarding incidents recorded in care records had not been reported to the local authority until inspectors highlighted them
However, the report did say:
>Care records showed staff worked with external professionals to support people’s health needs
>The provider treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity
>Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect
>Activity records showed people regularly engaged in meaningful activities
>People had been supported to personalise their bedrooms
The home caters for people with a learning disability, dementia or autism.