Case Study
Is it possible to turn around an ‘inadequate’ care home?
When a care home has been rated ‘inadequate’, it can feel like there are few options left to save it.
Whilst it’s never going to be easy to improve an ‘inadequate’ rated care home, there are always steps that can be taken to improve it, using the resources and budget available. Here’s how we helped one of our clients improve an ‘inadequate’ CQC rating.
What issue did the care home have?
The nursing home’s owner called us in early 2022 after they’d been given an ‘inadequate’ rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). In particular, it had been found that the principles of being ‘well led’ and ‘safe’ were below the regulator’s standard. The report also noted breaches in the following regulations:
- Regulation 12 – Safe care and treatment
- Regulation 13 – Safeguarding service users from abuse and improper treatment
- Regulation 17 – Good governance
- Regulation 18 – Staffing
We made sure that we were in regular contact with the CQC, forwarding the findings of our audit and the subsequent action plan to them.
How did Fulcrum Care help?
Speaking with the care provider client, we knew that urgent action was needed. At Fulcrum Care, we strongly believe that it’s in everyone’s best interests to try and save a care or nursing home, rather than allow it to close. This can create turmoil for staff and the community but, most importantly, the individuals receiving care. Residents often have a variety of unique needs, such as those living with dementia conditions, so unsettling or moving them out of regular care patterns can have an adverse effect.
Fulcrum’s experienced care professionals conducted a full audit to identify the areas of the nursing home that needed attention and create a bespoke action plan. We made sure that we were in regular contact with the CQC, forwarding the findings of our audit and the subsequent action plan to them. This helped to reassure the regulator that the care service was in the first stages of improvement and in safe hands.
To introduce better governance systems in the nursing home, an expert care consultant was installed in the care management team to help support the acting manager and care staff with their day-to-day processes. This included training, guidance and mentoring for the acting care manager to ensure that the improvements continued long after we’d left the home.
What were the results for the care home?
Since Fulcrum Care’s professional care consultants have worked with the nursing home, the CQC has reassessed the service and found that it is no longer in breach of Regulations 12, 13 and 18.
It was particularly important for us that we tackled Regulation 13, which aims to safeguard residents from abuse and improper treatment, as ensuring the safety and happiness of residents is key.
The nursing home was also given an improved CQC rating, rising from ‘inadequate’ in well-led and safe to ‘requires improvement’. Whilst the nursing home’s journey to improvement is not yet finished, we’re pleased to see that it has made large leaps towards a better quality of care in such a short amount of time.
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