York care home placed in special measures over fears for residents' safety

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Harlington House, in Main Street, Fulford, as 'inadequate' following an inspection earlier this year.

It says the residential care home, which provides personal care to up to 17 people with mental health needs or learning disability, is therefore in special measures.

It will be kept under review and re-inspected within six months to check for significant improvements, after the commission has requested an action plan from the provider to explain what they plan to do to improve standards of safety and quality.

A CQC inspection report said the quality and safety of service at the home had deteriorated since its last inspection.

"For example, the inspector walked into the home with ease as the front door mechanism was broken, giving access to people's bedrooms and not adequately ensuring people who were at risk of leaving the home alone were safe," it said.

"The manager was aware of the fault but had not considered additional precautions to mitigate this."

It said risks relating to people who self-harmed were not clearly identified and managed, and infection prevention and control measures were not consistent or robust.

"There was a cleaning schedule in place, but this had not been completed in four weeks at the time of the inspection.

"Cleaning had not been enhanced considering the recent Covid-19 outbreak. There were no records of cleaning 'spot checks' carried out by the manager in line with the provider's paperwork."

It said visitors' Covid-19 test status, temperature and potential symptoms were not always checked on entry and there were no records kept of visitor's information who had entered the home.

"The provider's environmental audits had identified actions for improvements, but these had not been actioned. During the inspection, the provider replaced flooring in two bedrooms to allow for effective cleaning."

The report said that the home's provider responded immediately, during and after the inspection. "They ensured that risks identified at the inspection were risk assessed and discussed with people."

It said staff raised concerns about staffing levels. "One staff member told us: "There isn't enough staff on shift for everyone to get their one to one. I think they rely on people declining it."

It said 'debrief sessions' were prompted on serious incident reports but these had not been completed, including incidents whereby staff had to use physical interventions and when staff had been injured.

However, residents and their relatives consistently told inspectors that they felt safe.

The report said there had been no registered manager in post since September 2020, even though it was a condition of registration that the service must have a registered manager. "The provider has

informed us of their current recruitment process and have taken steps to recruit a registered manager."

The Press asked the home's provider, Milewood, last Wednesday for comment on the CQC report, but it has not so far responded.