Inspectors at a Longsight Care Home found widespread systemic failures and multiple breaches of the Health and Social Care Act during a recent visit.

The home, Overton House,was closed and the fourteen residents were moved from their accommodation in Newton Avenue while the owners have had their registration removed.

Unwashed bed linen, strong smells of urine in bedrooms, rats running amok and unsafe food practices were among many things that Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission found during a visit in September.

The laundry basement to be insanitary and visibly dirty.

Soiled items of clothing and bedding had been thrown on the laundry floor, two washing machines full of laundry and several baskets of laundry had not been attended to and there was a strong odour of urine.

Soiled and contaminated laundry was stored in plastic shopping bags and had not been placed in dedicated water soluble ‘red bags’ and therefore posed a serious risk of cross contamination.

There was no laundry assistant on duty during the first day of inspection and staff said this was a regular occurrence with soiled and contaminated laundry items often left unwashed for several days.

This meant there was frequently a shortage of essential items such as bedsheets, quilts and blankets.

Overton House to have a serious and widespread problem relating to the control of rodents. Bate traps were located throughout the home, including in resident’s bedroom.

Perishable food items were being stored unsafely. For example, potatoes were stored on the floor in a container without a lid, carrots were stored on a shelf in a container with an ill-fitting lid, and butternut squash was stored in an open cardboard box, underneath a tool kit.

Highly volatile paint tins, paint thinners, paint brushes and other decorating/maintenance materials were stored next to food items.

The environmental conditions within the out-house were filthy and wholly inappropriate for the storage of perishable food items.

There were poor and unsafe practices related to infection control. Paper towel dispensers and liquid soap dispensers in communal toilets and bathrooms were empty which meant there was poor and unhygienic practices for hand hygiene.

In one bedroom that was occupied Inspectors found a serious malodour of urine and the carpet was damp in places due to urine contamination while in another second room they found another serious malodour of urine; this bedroom was a shared room, occupied by two residents, one of whom was reported to be doubly incontinent of both urine and faeces on a regular basis .

 

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