Inspections find residents 'not safe' in inadequate care homes

SEVENOAKS RESIDENCES IN SPECIAL MEASURES AMID DAMNING REPORTS

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TWO Sevenoaks care homes have been placed in special measures and rated inadequate the lowest grade possible - in every aspect of their care.

Entirely separate but equally damning inspection reports were published on the two homes by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) this month. Residents at both were "not safe and were at risk of avoidable harm," both reports state.

The inspection at Lavender Fields Care Home in Seal, in June and July, was partly prompted after the alarm was raised about a "serious incident" in which a resident suffered "significant injury".

Any culture of learning lessons was "absent" and the report describes how the same residents would repeatedly fall with no changes put in place.

Among many other concerns, it describes gaps in important training, failure to give time-critical medicines on time, poor staffing levels and a high dependency on agency staff. The service also had no registered manager for 600 days. It was found to be in breach of seven legal regulations.

Serena Coleman, the CQC’s deputy director for Kent, said a "culture of complacency" had developed at the home, where unsafe practices and poor standards had become "routine".