Eastbourne nursing home found to have ‘widespread failures’

Palm Court Nursing Home, in Prideaux Road, was inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in December and the report was released last month (January 21). It cares for up to 53 people - offering care for older people and people living with dementia. At the time of the inspection, 34 people were using the service.

The care home has been given an overall rating of requires improvement. The individual category breakdown is as follows: safe - requires improvement / effective - good / caring - good / responsive - requires improvement / well-led - inadequate.

Prior to this, the care home was rated as requires improvement in December 2021.

The report said there were ‘widespread failures around the governance of the service’ including issues with the audit systems and processes.

The report says: “Improvements in relation to the environment, oral hygiene and accurate record keeping had not been made since their last inspection. Additional concerns were identified during this inspection in relation to reporting of incidents and person-centred care. Records did not accurately reflect the care people received.”

There were criticisms over the cleanliness of the home, some fixtures and furniture were broken, and as a result ‘people were not always safe from environmental risks’.

Although it said risks around people’s health conditions were being safely managed, risk assessments didn’t always reflect current risks. Examples of this was bed rails being used inappropriately which meant there was a risk of injury, unexplained injuries weren’t always being looked into, and fluid intake wasn’t being recorded consistently. In terms of care plans, the report says they weren’t always up to date and relevant.

The report says: “People were not being admitted to the service safely. Activities were not always person-centred and there were limited opportunities for interaction and engagement for people who spent time in their rooms. People were not being appropriately supported with oral hygiene.”

On a positive note, there were enough staff to support people and staff were being recruited safely. Training was also completed around medicine records and supporting people with their medicines - aspects of medicines were ‘managed safely’ the report says.

Staff were praised for speaking to people with kindness and complaints were responded to appropriately. The report says: “People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.”

A spokesperson for the home said: “Palm Court has been serving the community in Eastbourne and other regions as far as London for almost 20 years. Staff have worked hard to evolve the care we give and have sustained our rating of requires improvement for the last five inspections under the CQC's new regulatory framework from 2017, including a rating of good in caring and effective.

“We had been working closely with an external quality improvement consultant to introduce a new Quality Assurance System and they’re helping us to address the issues raised by CQC and also to build on the progress made under the new manager who has forged strong relationships with relatives and local healthcare professionals. We continue to engage with local charities such as the Alzheimer's Society and appreciate the kind words of support we receive including from the Mayor of Eastbourne, Councillor Pat Rodohan, after he attended our Christmas Party where carols were performed by the Eastbourne Choral Society, which was on the day of the CQC unannounced inspection."

You can view the full report here

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