A RESIDENT at a Sandhurst care home who fractured their hip after a fall went without pain relief for eleven hours because staff were not trained how to give medicine.

This is just one of a string of revelations from a watchdog’s report exposing ‘inadequate’ care at Fourways Residential Home on Scotland Hill.

The damning review from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) was published in May following an inspection in February 2020.

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Bosses at Fourways were told the care home was not safe or well-led, and that the home’s effectiveness, responsiveness and care needed to improve.

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The CQC’s report also revealed:

  • Residents did not always receive their medicines as prescribed.
  • Staff were not assessed as competent to give medicines and did not have adequate training or support to meet residents’ needs.
  • A resident who had an oral infection received no oral care for three days afterwards.
  • One resident who lost their dentures in December 2019 was not supported to get new ones until more than a month later.
  • The CQC received "allegations of abuse" and concerns from staff before the inspection.

The watchdog inspected after concerns were also raised about infection control, staffing, poor management and risks to people not being mitigated or managed.

The person who fractured their hip did so after a fall in January 2020 and told staff they were in pain.

According to the CQC’s report, staff “failed to seek medical attention” and this meant the person “remained in pain until day staff arrived 11 hours later who were trained to administer medicines.”

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Aside from the resident who fractured his hip, the watchdog’s inspectors also discovered people did not always receive their medicines as prescribed and during their visit found one person did not get their medicine at the prescribed time.

The CQC reported although staff they spoke to during the inspection said they “felt supported by management”, they had “received concerns prior to the inspection that staff did not feel listened to.”

A health and social care professional told inspectors they had “significant concerns” around management and leadership of the home, as well as “reporting of concerns and staff culture/training.”

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The social care professional also said they “didn’t always feel people were treated with dignity” and during the inspection, residents told inspectors they did not feel they were supported to do things they enjoy.

Only six out of 16 staff had ‘dignity and respect’ training and only three had completed training in ‘person-centred’ care.

Fourways did not have a manager registered with the CQC at the time of the visit, and another manager was not available during the inspection.

The home is “not well-led”, “not safe” and requires improvement in its care, effectiveness and responsiveness.

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This led to an overall grading of ‘inadequate’ from the CQC, which has now put the home into special measures.

Despite the care home receiving the lowest possible grade, inspectors did note a number of positive measures.

This included:

  • Residents’ relatives told inspectors they thought staff were “kind and caring” and “respectful”
  • One resident told inspectors they “definitely feel safe” at the home and are “treated well” by staff
  • Residents have access to a varied and balanced diet and the food is “very good”
  • Residents and relatives knew how to complain if they had concerns and were confident action would be taken by the management team.

Yet despite these positive responses, a number of social care breaches were identified during the visit.

The Commission will not take enforcement action against the home’s providers, however, because of the “additional pressures they are currently facing in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Instead, Atkinsons Private Nursing Homes, which runs Fourways, will be asked to focus on “driving improvement” and is required to produce an action plan to set out how they will make changes to their service.

The home will be re-inspected in six months.

Both Atkinsons Private Nursing Homes and Fourways Residential Home were contacted by the News for comment, but representatives did not respond.