Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Parkhill Nursing Home in Stalybridge as inadequate and placed it into special measures to protect people, following an inspection in December.
Parkhill Nursing Home is a residential care home, run by Belmont Parkhill Limited, which provides care and support for up to 38 people.
The inspection was undertaken to follow up on concerns that were raised at a previous inspection, when breaches were found regarding treating people with dignity and respect, the safety of premises and equipment, staffing, and how the home is managed.
During CQC’s inspection, inspectors found continued breaches of regulation regarding these four areas, and new breaches were identified in relation to person-centred care, safe care and treatment, and the safe management of people’s nutrition and hydration needs.
Following this inspection, CQC has downgraded the home’s rating of safe from requires improvement to inadequate. Effective, caring and responsive are rated requires improvement again and well-led is rated inadequate again.
The service has been placed in special measures which involves close monitoring to ensure people are safe while Parkhill Nursing Home make improvements. Special measures also provides a structured timeframe so services understand when they need to make improvements by, and what action CQC will take if this doesn’t happen. CQC has also begun the process of taking regulatory action to address the concerns which Belmont Parkhill Limited has the right to appeal.
Andrew Peck, CQC deputy director of operations in the north-west, said:
“When we returned to Parkhill, we found a continuation of serious failings that placed people at unnecessary risk of harm. Leaders failed to take timely action to address issues raised during previous inspections, including ensuring the environment was suitably safe and secure for people to live in.
“Parkhill has been rated inadequate or requires improvement for the last five inspections, and leaders have failed to respond adequately to address and sustain serious concerns raised by CQC which is why we are taking further enforcement action. We have found throughout these inspections that when some concerns were addressed, at our next visit we would find different areas had deteriorated.
“Our inspectors saw that leaders hadn’t taken action to fix safety issues within the home. General repairs were still needed, including ensuring all bedrooms had access to hot water, making sure radiators were covered and covers were securely fixed to walls and ensuring the premise was secure.
“We found people weren’t being supported to maintain personal hygiene. Several people had long dirty nails and poorly cleaned teeth. People were only supported to have showers approximately once a week, regardless of their preference.
“Leaders didn’t ensure staffing levels were sufficient, meaning people often experienced delays in receiving support and were often woken up early to accommodate this understaffing. We received several concerns about people having to wait for assistance, especially during the night which placed people at risk of harm.
“We have told leaders where we expect to see rapid, and continued improvements and will continue to monitor the home closely to keep people safe during this time. We have begun the process of taking regulatory action in order to protect people further which Belmont Parkhill Limited has the right to appeal.”
