"Widespread shortfalls" in management of service at Leeds care home deemed "not always safe" by inspectors

John Sturrock - on Walter Crescent, Richmond Hill - is a care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 40 people, some of whom were living with long term mental health conditions and some who were living with dementia.

During a September 2021 visit, inspectors from the Care and Quality Commission (CQC) discovered "a closed culture developing at the service".

Several events, including safeguarding incidents, had "happened at the home" according to report published by the CQC on December 30.

Most had been appropriately reported, but in the course of this inspection, inspectors "asked the provider to report another two safeguarding incidents that had not previously been identified as such".

Known risks to people's care and the management of behaviour considered challenging was not managed well, inspectors said.

Kevin Martin is the Director of Thomas Owen Care Ltd which runs the home.

He said it had been a "very difficult two years" coping with the Covid pandemic and said Thomas Owen Care Ltd were "very disappointed" with the findings of the report.

The CQC inspection ranked the home in five areas - safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.

Inspectors said the home "requires improvement" in safe and effective areas.

Caring and responsive were ranked as good.

However, the 'well-led' category was deemed 'inadequate' - the lowest rating possible.

People's medicines were also not always administered safely at the home according to the report.

Management systems were not robust in ensuring consistent recording and analysis of accidents, incidents and complaints at the home, the report found.

"We found gaps in staff's training, assessment of competencies and supervision", inspectors wrote.

Inspectors are set to meet with the provider following the report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good.

"We will work with the local authority to monitor progress", the report states.

"We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme.

"If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

"The registered manager was receptive to the inspection process and told us they had taken action in relation to the issues found at this inspection."

Director Mr Martin said "thankfully" the home had been "able to prevent any illness" or "loss of any of their residents".

In a statement provided to the YEP, Mr Martin said: "We were very disappointed with the report that we feel is unfair and doesn’t describe the excellent psychiatric care we provide for very poorly people.

"We have a long waiting list and excellent relationships with local hospitals and social workers.

"We have employed solicitors and sent a highly detailed response dealing with every point made in the report but CQC have simply refused to accept without explanation anything we have said.

"We have had a very difficult two years coping with the Covid pandemic and thankfully been able to prevent any illness or loss of any of our residents.

"We have already dealt with any criticisms made."

John Sturrock was also previously rated as requiring improvement in a 2019 report by the CQC.

Debbie Ivanova, CQC’s deputy chief inspector for people with a learning disability and autistic people, said:“When we inspected John Sturrock care home, we found a service that wasn’t being managed well enough to keep people safe. We were concerned about signs of a closed culture developing, which can lead to people being put at risk of harm and have a very negative impact on their day to day lives.

“We found people weren’t always protected from the risk of harm and there were a high number of incidents that had happened between people using the service. Managers weren’t taking into account known risks to people to prevent incidents from happening again.

“We were concerned that people weren’t supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. Some people's planned care included use of restrictions however, not all staff had been trained to restrain people in a safe way and these interventions weren’t always kept to a minimum.

“The provider has started to make improvements and is aware what further changes are necessary to keep people safe. We will continue to monitor the service closely to ensure that these are made. If we’re not satisfied that sufficient improvements have been made, we will not hesitate to take action.”

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