Inadequate Merseyside care home.

A Merseyside residential care home has been told by The Care Quality Commission (CQC)  that it must make improvements or face further enforcement action.

Inspectors who made an unannounced inspection at Speke Care Home (Residential), Liverpool, in November 2014 found that the home, operated by Mr Abid Y Chudary and Mrs Chand Khurshid Latif, was failing to provide care which was safe, effective, caring, responsive or well led.

The inspectors also found that improvements demanded after a previous inspection in July 2014 had not all been made.

Under CQC’s new programme of inspections, all adult social care services are being given a rating to help people choose care. Overall, Speke Care Home (Residential) was rated as Inadequate.

Four warning notices have been issued to the provider by the CQC setting a deadline for improvements. These relate to the care and welfare of those who use their services, assessing and monitoring the quality of service providers, safeguarding people who use services from abuse and the management of medicines.

A number of areas in which improvements were required were identified by inspectors including that residents were not kept safe due to poor administration and overall management of medicines; some residents were not involved in decisions about their care and staff failed to take account of their individual needs and preferences.

Also, care records were not always updated or reflected people’s current needs; at mealtimes some people were not supported to help them maintain a nutritious diet and their food and fluid intake was not monitored sufficiently.

It was also identified that risks to people’s health, safety and welfare were not appropriately reported, managed or analysed to identify trends and put measures in place prevent reoccurrence; some residents lacked the capacity to make informed decisions about their care but mental capacity assessments and best interest meetings had not taken place in line with legislation.

Finally, activities to engage those living at the service were poorly planned and rarely executed and the provider did not have an effective system to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people received.

CQC deputy chief inspector of adult social care in the north, Debbie Westhead,  said: “It is unacceptable that improvements required as a result of our previous inspection last year have not been made. We have told Mr Abid Y Chudary and Mrs Chand Khurshid Latif that they must take action to address the failings identified.”