Hailsham nursing home rated '˜requires improvement' in latest CQC

Ersham House Nursing Home, in Ersham Road, was given the rating after an unannounced inspection by the Care Quality Commission in February.

While its Caring section was labelled ‘Good’, the care home received ‘Requires improvement’ in three other sections and ‘Inadequate’ in the Well-led category.

Ersham House provides care and support for up to 40 people who have nursing needs, including poor mobility or diabetes, as well as those living with various stages of dementia.

This inspection comes after a report in May 2016 found the home ‘requires improvement’. The CQC noted improvements had been made since, however it continued to ‘breach regulations’.

This included not ‘consistently applying’ the principles of the Mental Health Capacity Act (2005).

The report said, “Bed rail risk assessments were not consistently in place and people’s capacity to consent to the use of bed rails had not consistently been assessed.

“Care plans were at times contradictory and failed to document and underpin whether people could consent to their care plans.”

The report said Ersham House was not well-led due to not maintaining accurate records and said the new management team needed to enact positive changes.

In terms of safety, inspectors found the management of diabetes was not completely safe.

The report also found patients’ risk of social isolation had not been reduced since the last visit and people felt there were not enough staff and available staff always appeared busy.

However, patients said to inspectors they felt safe and ‘spoke highly’ of the staff. The report quotes one person to have said, “The staff are lovely and we have a laugh,” while another said, “The staff are ever so kind”.

Staff said they enjoyed working at Ersham House and people ‘spoke highly’ of the new management, according to the report.

To view it in full, visit www.cqc.org.uk