'˜Unsafe' St Leonards nursing home put into special measures

Bryher Court Nursing Home was given the worst possible rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in a report published on Thursday, June 2.

The home on Filsham Road was deemed unsafe and not well-led as well as not consistently effective, caring or responsive after inspections on March 21, 22, and 23.

“The service was not safe. Safety checks and risk assessments had not been completed. This included fire, water temperatures and legionella,” the report said.

“Maintenance of services and equipment including electrical appliance testing, water checks, maintenance of lifts and other services had not been completed.

“Staff had not received fire training. Individual and environmental fire risk assessments needed to be reviewed to ensure people’s safety was maintained.

Bryher Court was praised for implementing complaints and supervision systems and people’s meals were ‘of a good standard’.

But the lack of a registered manager and incomplete care plans were two areas of criticism.

The home was told to improve after an inspection in March, 2015, and while some areas were better, others had not been addressed and in some cases gotten worse.

“Two regulations which were in breach at the last inspection had been met at this inspection; however, we found four continued breaches and two new further breaches of regulation,” the report said.

“The provider sent us an action plan following the previous inspection telling us the actions they would take to ensure they met regulations. However, we found that these had not been completed to ensure the provider met all registration requirements.”

Special measures means the home will be inspected again in six months.

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