'˜Unsafe' Chichester care home told to improve

An '˜unsafe' care home has been told it must improve.
Marriott House & Lodge, run by Barchester Healthcare Homes Limited, is located in Tollhouse CloseMarriott House & Lodge, run by Barchester Healthcare Homes Limited, is located in Tollhouse Close
Marriott House & Lodge, run by Barchester Healthcare Homes Limited, is located in Tollhouse Close

Inspectors have rated Marriott House and Lodge as ‘requires improvement’ overall, and deficient in four of five categories: Safety; caring; responsive; well-led.

A Care Quality Commission (CQC) report did however find the home’s effectiveness ‘good’.

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The report, published on January 18, said: “At this inspection (October 19 and 20, 2017) we found three breaches of the regulations and other areas of practice that needed to improve.

“There were not always enough staff to care for people safely.

People and their relatives expressed concerns that people had to wait for their care needs to be met.

“One person said, “At times I have to wait for staff and when they do come they always appear rushed.”

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Another person commented, “sometimes you wait over half an hour.”

Call bell records confirmed that people regularly waited for longer than they should reasonably expect for staff to respond. This was identified as a breach of regulations.

“The provider took immediate action to increase staffing levels and improvements were noted on the second day of the inspection.”

It added that ‘most people and their relatives spoke highly of staff and the care they received’.

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“One person said, “They are a very nice group of girls, I call them my grand-daughters,” the report stated.

“However people’s dignity was not always protected because staff were not responding to call bells in a timely way. “Some people told us that staff were not always kind and caring.”

The home had previously been rated ‘good’ in 2015.

There were 54 people living in Marriott House and 29 people in Marriott Lodge at the time of this inspection.

The home did not have a CQC registered manager. A manager was in the post but the second day of inspection was their last day, though inspectors were told a new manager was due to start the following week.

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‘The service was not consistently safe’ and ‘staff were not consistently caring’, the report states. “Clear governance and leadership was not consistent in all areas of the home.

“People were receiving their medicines safely but some PRN (as required) medicines were not always documented clearly.

“This put people at risk of receiving inappropriate doses of their medicines and was identified as an area of practice that needs to improve.”