Norfolk care home rated inadequate and placed in special measures

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Heywoods Grange in Norfolk inadequate and placed the care home into special measures following an inspection that concluded in June.

Heywoods Grange provides residential accommodation and personal care for autistic people and people with a learning disability. Nine people were living at the home at the time of CQC’s inspection and all were receiving personal care.

The home’s overall rating has fallen from good to inadequate. It was also rated inadequate for safe, responsive and well-led, while effective and caring were rated requires improvement.

CQC assessed the home using its Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture guidance, which considers whether services provide autistic people and people with a learning disability with respect, equality, dignity, choice, independence and access to their local communities.

Inspectors found people were not always safe or receiving the standard of care expected, with concerns identified around medicines, risk management, mental capacity, people’s dignity and the management of the service.

CQC found staff had not completed mental capacity assessments for important decisions involving people’s medicines, finances and care, despite some people requiring support to make these decisions.

Inspectors also identified environmental safety concerns, including an unused stairlift left in a stairwell, changes to a fire exit and concerns about external access. CQC said some of these risks had still not been addressed when inspectors returned for a second visit.

Concerns were also raised about people’s privacy and dignity. Staff did not always use people’s preferred names, while CQC found appropriate support had not been put in place for one person who regularly exposed themselves in communal areas.

Inspectors found risks were not always clearly recorded and records did not consistently demonstrate how people had been involved in decisions about their care and support.

Staff were also not always receiving regular competency checks for important tasks including medicines management. CQC found referrals to specialist services were not consistently followed up and health recommendations were not always implemented, meaning changes in people’s needs were not always monitored.

Inspectors also identified concerns about how the service responded when people raised issues. In one example, a person told staff they did not feel safe living at the home, but CQC found leaders had not investigated the concern through safeguarding processes.

However, inspectors also identified positive aspects of people’s experiences. People living at the home and their relatives spoke positively about individual staff members, describing them as kind, caring and compassionate. Inspectors also observed warm and respectful interactions between staff and people using the service.

CQC has now placed Heywoods Grange into special measures, meaning the service will be closely monitored while improvements are made.

The regulator has also started the process of taking regulatory action in response to its concerns. Heywoods Grange Limited has the right to appeal.

Hazel Roberts, CQC deputy director of adult social care in the East of England, said leaders had not established effective systems to identify and address problems and that the service was not operating in line with CQC’s Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture guidance.

CQC said it has shared its findings with the home’s management and will closely monitor the service to ensure improvements are made and people are kept safe.

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