Care home residents moved due to safety concerns

Residents have been moved out of a Wakefield care home due to concerns for their safety.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has suspended the registration of Elm Lodge, a care home for older people in Horbury, and placed it into special measures.

Inspectors found time-sensitive medicines were missed, people were left to eat meals without proper cutlery, and the building was kept "unacceptably cold".

Victoria Marsden, deputy director of adult social care in the north, said inspectors witnessed one resident being "so desperate to go to the toilet they tried to undress in the lounge". It is run by Alhambra Care Limited, which has been contacted for a comment.

Marsden said: "Staff weren't on hand to assist them which is totally unacceptable."

The inspection in April and May found 11 breaches of regulations at the home, and it was rated inadequate in all key categories.

The contraventions were in areas including person-centred care, consent, safe care and treatment, safeguarding, nutrition, management and staffing.

Marsden said: "We saw someone attempting to eat their meal using only a knife, and another was using their fingers with no intervention or assistance from staff.

"Another person was visibly incontinent in the dining room and had to walk away in front of others without staff support."

The CQC placed the 17-bed care home into special measures, meaning it is kept under close monitoring while improvements are made.

Wakefield Council led on finding residents alternative accommodation while the service's registration is suspended.

Marsden said "urgent action" had been taken and improvements needed to take place "as quickly as possible".

She said leaders had allowed poor practice to continue, and although a new management team had been put in place, it was too soon to see real progress.

"Our experience tells us that when a service isn't well-led they are less likely to be able to provide good care which is what we found here," she added.

Inspectors found some areas were visibly unclean and there were bad smells throughout the home.

They said staff did not understand what constituted a safeguarding referral and leaders did not fully understand or investigate accidents when they occurred.

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