A care home where residents were told they “get to leave when you die” has been plunged into special measures, as its new manager says she will “drive meaningful and sustainable improvements”.
Saxon Lodge Residential Home in Bridge, near Canterbury, was visited by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in July as part of its monitoring of health and social care services.
Canterbury’s Saxon Lodge care home has been plunged into special measures. Picture: KMG
The Western Avenue facility, which is part of the Oasis Care Group, supports people who require assisted living, including those with dementia.
It has now been downgraded from “good” to “inadequate” after inspectors identified seven regulation breaches at the site, which cares for up to 23 people at any one time.
CQC chiefs say these related to safe care, medicine management, governance of the service, staffing, dignity, consent, responding to complaints, and person-centred care.
Inspectors found the service was not managing people’s medicines safely, with instructions for administering them deemed unclear and records incomplete.
Managers were also not ensuring the service provided food in line with people’s dietary requirements.
It came after a resident needed their food to be pureed, but staff tried to support them to eat puree that was still lumpy, putting them at risk of choking, and the resident did not eat the meal.
Following the inspection, the provider told the CQC they had sourced additional training and food moulds to be used when serving pureed meals.
Managers also did not help distressed residents keep safe or integrated, the CQC said.
For example, staff told people not to sit beside someone who kicked out at people, meaning they were often sat alone in the lounge and at risk of loneliness.
Meanwhile, leaders did not always ensure there were enough staff or activities to keep people occupied and engaged.
CQC inspectors have downgraded Saxon Lodge to “inadequate”. Picture: Stock image
This meant residents would often spend their time looking at the television or walking around the corridors, therefore “lacking meaningful engagement”.
Inspectors discovered bosses were not open to feedback or using concerns to make improvements.
Relatives had made it clear they were not confident in how the service was supporting their loved ones, but none of their concerns were acted upon.
CQC’s deputy director of adult social care in Kent, Catriona Eglinton, said: “When we inspected Saxon Lodge, we found a culture where people’s needs weren’t being met and where leaders consistently failed to listen to people and to act when concerns were raised.
“We saw staff didn’t have the guidance they needed to support people safely when they became anxious or distressed, which meant some people were placed at avoidable risk of harm.
“In one example, when someone became distressed, staff didn’t know how to handle the situation, which led to them frightening other people around them.
“Relatives told us they had been called to the home – sometimes during the night – to help calm their family member because staff didn’t know what to do.
“Inspectors also had concerns about staffing levels. Leaders hadn’t factored in emotional support for people when they planned staffing levels and this is particularly important for a home where people have dementia and some people experience anxiety and distress.
“We found staff’s time was often taken up with tasks such as laundry or medication rounds, leaving gaps in areas such as the communal lounge, where we saw people wandering around or needing reassurance and no staff present.
“People and their relatives described seeing staff speaking to people in a derogatory way and arguing among themselves in communal areas.
‘We found a culture where people’s needs weren’t being met and where leaders consistently failed to listen to people and to act…’
“In one distressing example, when someone repeatedly asked when she could go home, a staff member told her she would get to leave the home when she died.
“We weren’t assured managers appreciated the seriousness of these concerns or were taking action to address them. A relative raised concerns about an incident but staff claimed they were being racist.”
The healthcare watchdog has downgraded the ratings for safe and well-led from good to inadequate.
A “requires improvement” score was also given for effectiveness, caring, and responsiveness.
CQC bosses say they will monitor the service closely to ensure people are protected moving forward.
They have also begun the process of taking further regulatory action to address the concerns, which the facility has the right to appeal.
In response to the inspection, Saxon Lodge’s home manager Rebekah Gifford, who started her role in September, told KentOnline: “We recognise the seriousness of the current situation and are committed to working openly and constructively with the CQC, our residents, their relatives and our staff to address the areas requiring improvement.
“Our focus remains on ensuring residents receive safe, compassionate, high-quality care and that their dignity, wellbeing and individual needs remain at the heart of everything we do.
“I bring with me 20 years of experience in the care sector, including eight years in management and a background in supporting care homes through periods of improvement.
“My priority is to provide strong leadership and drive meaningful, sustainable improvements in the quality of care and support provided to our residents.”