Inspectors rate Bexhill care home as '˜inadequate'

Southlands Place, in Hastings Road, was placed in special measures by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after an inspection in October 2017.

The CQC again visited the home in June 2018 and published its latest report last month. But the home was again rated ‘inadequate’ and remains in special measures.

The CQC report said: “This service has had no registered manager for over one year.

“Since October 2017 there have been three management changes, including a newly appointed manager who had started their post on the same day as the first day of inspection.

“At this inspection we continued to find a wide a range of areas which needed action to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people. People’s safety was not ensured in areas such as medicines management, infection risk, wound care, diabetes and prevention of pressure damage. The service also continued not to consistently follow national guidelines to reduce such risks. Some people continued not to always receive the care they needed in relation to areas such as dementia care, oral care and with their communication needs.

“Procedures for safeguarding people continued to be ineffective. This was because timely referrals had not always been made to the local authority to ensure risk of abuse was appropriately considered.

“The service lacked appropriate governance and risk management frameworks, which resulted in poor outcomes for people who used the service.”

A spokesman for the home said: “The health and wellbeing of our residents is our absolute priority and we take feedback from the CQC very seriously.

“This report relates to an inspection that took place in June 2018, following which we submitted evidence to challenge what we consider to be inaccurate findings.

“We are disappointed that the CQC has chosen not to take this into account.

“Where improvements have been needed, we took immediate steps to address them in June and evidenced this to the CQC during a more recent inspection in December 2018.

“We continue to be committed to ensuring Southlands Place consistently provides the high quality care each resident should expect and await the outcome of this most recent inspection.”

To read the full report, click here.

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