Covid-19 risk not properly controlled in Bognor Regis care home, report says

This report follows a previous inspection in January, which found the care home was in breach of several legal requirements. This latest rating finds the care home still in need of improvement, despite the creation of an action plan after the last inspection.

The care home provides specialist support for people living with dementia and, at the time of the inspection this July, 19 people were using the service.

As always, the facility was evaluated across a range of criteria based on priorities identified in the previous report – these were safety, effectiveness, and management.

In each category, the care home was found wanting, but Covid-19 prevention measures were particularly lacklustre. Inspectors were not asked for lateral flow test results on arrival, and said they saw a used swab test with a positive result on the desk of the office. They also saw a person who had tested positive for Covid-19 on the day of the inspection using a communal area of the home with other people.

"Staff shortfalls in Infection Prevention Control (IPC) processes resulted in an increased potential infection risk to people and staff,” the report concludes.

Safety measures at Summerley Care Home were found to be lack in a number of other respects. Inspectors said “risks to people’s health had not always been fully assessed on admission or managed safety,” pointing to one patient who had been re-admitted to the care home with a new health condition.

The condition meant staff needed to take appropriate action in the event of an emergency, but senior staff had not updated the patient’s care plan or sought guidance on appropriate responses to an emergency. A relative told inspectors they were worried staff would not know how to support their loved one.

Some of these problems may stem from ongoing issues with staff induction and support, which the report said ‘remains insufficient’.

“People were supported by staff who had not received consistent guidance or training to support people living with dementia or when they experienced episodes of distress,” the report reads. One staff member told inspectors: "It's opened up my eyes on dementia how individual they are, personally the online training is not that great.”

Inspectors also said medicines were not always safely managed, with records often ‘incomplete’ and ‘disordered’. They pointed to an example of one patient who had been prescribed a medicine for ‘restlessness’, but staff had recorded the use of a medicine for agitation, adding: “Medicine risks had not always been considered within PRN protocols to ensure people received their medicines safely.”

Management was found to be similarly ‘inconsistent’. Inspectors said this aspect of the service ‘failed to ensure there were adequate staff to meet people's needs in a person-centred manner,’, reporting ‘shortfalls in staff skills, support and knowledge around supporting people living with dementia.’

The results of this inspection means the CQC will continue to monitor Summerley Care Home, working with the provider to change their rating to ‘good’ or better, and monitoring their process alongside the local authority.

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