Garsewednack Residential Home Rated Inadequate by CQC After Inspection

The Care Quality Commission has taken action at a care home in Redruth after an inspection found people were being put at risk.

Garsewednack Residential Home has been downgraded from good to inadequate overall and placed into special measures following an inspection carried out in September.

Inspection Raises Serious Concerns

Garsewednack Residential Home provides care for up to 21 older people, including people living with dementia. At the time of the inspection, 16 people were living at the home.

The Care Quality Commission, known as CQC, carried out the inspection after being alerted to concerns including staffing levels and people’s care needs not being met.

Inspectors found the quality of care had deteriorated and identified breaches of six regulations. These related to consent, dignity and respect, safe care and treatment, recruitment practices, and the overall management of the service.

Warning Notices Issued

Due to the seriousness of the findings, inspectors issued four warning notices to the service and a further four to the registered manager. These required immediate improvements in several areas, including safe care and treatment, management of the service, how people were treated with dignity and respect, and the condition and cleanliness of the premises.

The ratings for safe, effective and well-led were downgraded from good to inadequate. Caring and responsive were reduced to requires improvement.

What Inspectors Found

Inspectors highlighted a number of risks to people living at the home, including failures to follow medical guidance, unsafe environments, and poor staffing practices.

Stefan Kallee, CQC deputy director of adult social care in Cornwall, said:

“When we inspected Garsewednack Residential Home, we saw that poor leadership had created an unsafe environment, putting people at risk of harm and neglect.

“We identified several examples where people were placed at risk of harm. For example, staff weren’t following one person’s medical guidance from a health professional, which put them at risk of choking and of inhaling food or fluids into their lungs. We also saw most first-floor windows lacked tamper-proof restrictors, exposing people to the risk of falling from height.

“In addition, the home didn’t always recruit staff safely or in line with their own policy. Leaders weren’t always doing the required background checks for new staff, which increased the risk to people living in the home of being cared for by unsuitable staff.

“Staff told us morale was low, and they often struggled to do their jobs properly due to staff shortages and limited support from management. As a result, parts of the home were cluttered, unclean, and had a strong smell of urine, which is unacceptable for a place people call home.

“Although we saw staff being kind and caring, we also witnessed situations where people’s dignity was disregarded. For example, we saw a staff member supporting someone with their continence needs in a communal lounge, which did not promote dignity or respect.

“We also found significant gaps in how the home monitored food and fluid intake, placing people at risk of dehydration or weight loss. In one instance, there was a 16-hour gap between recorded drinks for one person living there.

“We have told Garsewednack’s leaders exactly where they must make immediate and significant improvements, and we are monitoring the home closely to keep people safe while those changes take place.”

Further Issues Identified

Inspectors also found that:

• Leaders did not support staff to manage medicines safely

• Staff were not always aware of people’s allergies, and care plans did not always record this information

• The service managed people’s finances without this being documented in care plans or risk assessments

• A rota system meant people were not able to bathe or shower daily

• People and their relatives were not always involved in care planning, and some people did not know what their care plan was

What Happens Next

CQC has placed the home into special measures, meaning it will be closely monitored to ensure people remain safe while improvements are made. The process also sets out clear timescales for change and what action will be taken if standards do not improve.

The full inspection report can be viewed here.