The CQC Puts Dorset Care Home in Special Measures

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has placed an East Dorset Home belonging to the Waypoints Care Group in special measures after an unsatisfactory inspection report at the end of last year. The inspection revealed numerous health and safety issues at the care home, including the unsatisfactory treatment of pressure sores amongst elderly residents.

Pressure sores, or bed sores as they are also commonly referred to, develop when a person is confined to a bed, chair or wheelchair for long periods without being moved. Many elderly care home residents are susceptible to bed sores as they may find it difficult to move into a different and more comfortable position on their own.

Well managed care homes have staff who know their residents well and who routinely monitor them for bed sores and any other health issue that might arise.

Bed sores can be managed without serious long term health outcomes by well known management techniques. Often, the development of pressure sores goes unnoticed when staff members are untrained or experience a high turnover.

The lack of permanent trained staff at the Waypoints Home in Verwood, Dorset seems to have been the primary problem which led to the unsatisfactory CQC report.

Residents at the home have been reported to say that their permanent staff were kind and caring and knew them well. However, there seems to have been a real shortage of staff during the week and especially at the weekends. The home appears to have had only 1 member of staff on duty during the week and often no-one at all at the weekend. The home has 37 residents.

The November 2017 inspection, which was unannounced before it took place, found that some areas of the home had smelly, stained carpets. Medicines were not being distributed according to their prescribed use regularly and pressure sores, as has already been noted, were not being monitored carefully enough.

The home was taking on agency staff during the week to fill in gaps in their permanent staffing arrangements. These temporary staff members understandably did not know the individual needs of the residents and were not trained to care for the residents to the same degree as the permanent staff members.

The home previously had a ‘good’ rating from the CQC as had the only other Waypoints home in Dorset, at Upton, which also received a very favourable report from an independent organisation.

Waypoints Care Group Managing Director, Alexander Baxendine, was reported as saying that he was personally disappointed by the CQC report and that his company was doing its best to resolve any issues that the report uncovered. He said that Waypoints and the care home staff at Verwood are cooperating with the Dorset County Council, the CQC itself and the Dorset CCG in developing and carrying out an action plan to ensure the home meets standards expected of it. At present, the home is expected to release a monthly update to the CQC until the Commission is satisfied that residents are being looked after effectively.

One might wonder just how these 37 residents came to be so badly looked after at the Verwood Waypoints care home and why it should take an inspection by the CQC to make sure that proper standards of care are in place.

Are you are concerned that your elderly loved one is not being looked after at a care facility? Perhaps you have discovered that he or she has developed pressure sores that are not being treated? You should bring the matter up with the management as soon as possible. If you do not get the response you expect you should talk to a solicitor with legal experience in pressure sore and care home negligence.