Care home closes after critical CQC report.

A local authority care home in Haworth, near Bradford, has shut down after being placed in special measures by the health and care watchdog, the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Bradford Council confirmed that Bronte Park Residential Care Home had closed down and that and all its residents had been moved to alternative accommodation.

A statement was issued by the local authority’s Health and Wellbeing Department a fortnight after the CQC rated the home inadequate following an inspection in April 2017.

The CQC had put Bronte Park in special measures and given the owners six months to make significant improvements to protect the safety and welfare of residents.

The home had received an inadequate rating for leadership, and the safety, effectiveness and responsiveness of its service. Inspectors, who visited the home on April 27 and May 8 2017, also said the quality of the home’s care for its 24 residents required improvement.

The inspection team identified eight breaches in regulations involving issues such as staffing, the employment of ‘fit and proper persons’, safe care and treatment, safeguarding, person-centred care, dignity and respect, and good governance.

The inspectors said the overall quality of the home had declined significantly since its previous inspection in February 2016, when the home was classed as requiring improvement.

The spokesman for Bradford Council’s Health and Wellbeing Department said that the home’s owners decided to close Bronte Park.

She added: "We worked closely with the service provider to inform the residents, relatives and staff of the closure. All residents have been successfully accommodated elsewhere and the home is now closed."

When the CQC last inspected Bronte Park in February 2016, inspectors identified one breach of regulations in relation to staff training and the overall quality rating for the home was listed as ‘requires improvement’.

The final inspection found the service had declined significantly. A report said that inspectors found practices which demonstrated a lack of respect for residents who were not receiving ‘person-centred care’ which met their needs or preferences and there was a lack of activities to keep people occupied.

At the time of the CQC report, the commission’s deputy chief inspector of adult social care, Debbie Westhead, said: “It is very disappointing to discover that the service has deteriorated quite significantly as providers are expected to use our reports to help address their problems and rectify them as a matter of urgency.”