Stoke-on-Trent care home gets worse - just months after being told to improve

Inspectors have found that a Stoke-on-Trent care home has got worse just months after ordering it to improve. Although Trentham-based Collinson Court is still rated as 'requires improvement' overall, a watchdog has downgraded the 'well-led' service area to 'inadequate'.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) says this means "there were widespread and significant shortfalls in service leadership". The latest inspection of the Longton Road residential care home, which is made up of individual apartments catering for people who have a learning disability or autism, took place over three days across January and February.

The previous visit took place back in July. The two other service areas under scrutiny - 'safe' and 'responsive' - remained as 'requires improvement' following the recent inspection.

The recently-published CQC report states: "We carried out an unannounced inspection of this service on 17 and 21 July 2023. Breaches of legal requirements were found. We issued a warning notice on the provider. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve managing risk, supporting people appropriately and in-line with their needs and the oversight and monitoring of the quality and safety of care.

READ: Care home ordered to improve as inspectors find some staff not fully trained Rock Cottage Care Services in Brown Edge has been rated 'requires improvement'

READ: Care home calls in police as worker sacked in missing medicines probe Hanford Manor, in Hanford, has also alerted Stoke-on-Trent City Council and the Care Quality Commission

"We undertook this focused inspection to check they had complied with the warning notice and followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. We have identified continued breaches in relation to supporting people appropriately and in-line with their needs and the oversight and monitoring of the quality and safety of care. We also found an additional breach regarding staff skills and experience.

"We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety."

Summarising the inspectors' findings, the report states: "There were enough staff to support people in line with their commissioned care and support plans. However, staff did not always have all the necessary skills and experience to effectively support people. Risks were assessed and planned for, and staff knew people's health conditions and risks to their safety. However, we identified some incidents staff had recorded had not always been reviewed by quality assurance systems in place and considered for any learning to reduce the risk of them happening again.

"People were protected from the risk of abuse by staff. Where abuse had been identified action was taken by the provider to safeguard people. People were not always supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives as there were staffing difficulties which meant people did not always have the range of choices they have previously had.

"People's social activity needs continued to not always be met. People still had varying levels of access to the community. Relatives felt able to raise concerns, if needed, although there was mixed feedback about the response to these concerns. There had been numerous management changes over a long period of time, and a new manager had started since the last inspection.

"The relatives and staff were positive about the new manager and continued to be positive about the deputy manager. Quality assurance system to monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service were not always effective, although some improvements had been made."

A spokesperson for the home said: "We have been working hard to make improvements under a new leadership team at the home. At the time of this inspection in January we employed a number of agency workers, however, we have since made significant progress and have recruited a number of new permanent colleagues.

"We are pleased inspectors noted how knowledgeable our team members are about the people they support, and have now enhanced the training provided for all colleagues, particularly new starters. The report recognises that relatives have praised the home’s new management team for their ‘hands on’ and ‘committed’ approach, and we continue to focus on delivering improvements for our residents."

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