Belle Vue Country House, located on Warninglid Lane, Haywards Heath, was rated as “requires improvement” in an inspection by the Care Quality Commission between October 6 and October 21.
The home provides accommodation, nursing, and personal care to people living with varying stages of dementia and mental health conditions.
The provider was found to require improvement in multiple areas, including safety, effectiveness, responsiveness, and leadership.
A staff member was observed repeatedly encouraging a resident to eat their meal and was so persistent the resident eventually agreed, despite indicating they did not want to.
Consent forms were also left uncompleted by people or their representatives for various decisions and the provider did not always tell people about their rights around consent.
The provider’s safeguarding policy was found to have been not updated since 2013.
The report also detailed issues with infection control, with staff not always changing gloves or using fresh water to clean bodily fluids.
Inspectors found that staff shortages meant residents’ food went cold on multiple occasions.
Despite these issues, the home was rated “good” for caring, with the report stating “the provider treated people with kindness, empathy, and compassion.”
The report said people appeared relaxed and comfortable with staff, with one person saying: “I feel safe here, I feel safe when being supported to mobilise and when staff use the hoist.”
People and their relatives also provided positive feedback about the general running of the service.
However, mixed feedback was received about staffing levels.
One relative said: “I get the impression that there aren’t enough staff given the complex needs that people have.”
Multiple people also said there was not much to do at the service and they were sometimes bored.
Belle Vue Country House has been approached for comment.