A West London care home has been slammed by the healthcare watchdog for risking people’s safety and human rights.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has placed the facility into special measures following an investigation between March and April.
Woodlands Care Home, Ickenham, provides personal care for elderly people. Inspectors flagged several concerns including allowing male staff to carry out intimate personal care on female residents who were unable to consent.
The CQC decides an overall rating against five metrics on whether the facility is: safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well-led. Previously, the care home was rated ‘Good’ overall, however this has been knocked down to ‘Inadequate’.
Inspectors were concerned “to find leaders had overlooked some serious risks to people’s safety and human rights”. They found that male staff were sometimes carrying out “intimate personal care” on female residents who were unable to consent, because they were the only staff on duty.
Whilst facility leaders had obtained consent from family members, they failed to consider other solutions, which failed to respect residents’ rights. Staffing was generally a serious issue at the care home.
Inspectors found that there were only three members of staff on site each night, split across two buildings – something which “severely impacted” people who needed two staff to help them with personal care. This low staffing meant that residents’ choices and independence were sometimes restricted.
During the inspection, management was refurbishing the home’s main building but had continued to admit residents, despite lacking bedrooms for them. Instead, they moved six people into an unsafe and unsuitable property which wasn’t part of the care home.
Inspectors were shocked to find four people living in two small bedrooms without private areas. They also found several “serious fire risks” such as partially blocked fire exits and portable heaters plugged into extension leads, something described as “especially dangerous at night” when residents were sleeping.
The home didn’t always protect people from infection risks, as inspectors found overflowing waste bins and wash basins full of dirty water. Some staff, with the consent of family members and doctors, have patients consent without their knowledge, but “didn’t always know how to do this safely”.
Catriona Eglinton, CQC Deputy Director of Operations in London, said: “We shared our findings with the home’s manager, who acted on our concerns immediately. Despite the issues we found, people and their relatives told us most staff were kind and attentive. We saw they were well-trained and people were relaxed around them.
“We’ve placed conditions on the home’s registration to ensure improvements are completed quickly, and to reduce the number of people the home can legally care for until this is done. Following this inspection, staff have supported eight residents to safely transition into new homes. We’re monitoring Woodlands Care Home closely to make sure the remaining residents are kept safe while improvements are made.”
Woodlands Care Home were contacted for comment, however had failed to respond at the time of publication.
Have a story you want to share? Email [email protected]
Don’t miss out on the biggest West London news. Sign up to our MyWestLondon newsletter HERE for all the latest daily news and more.
