CQC warns 'no excuse for poor care' after taking action against Bedfordshire nursing home

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has stressed they will take tough action against care providers that provide unacceptable levels of care, to ensure service users and their families are properly protected.

Following urgent legal action against The Old Village School Nursing Home in Bedfordshire, owned and run by Old Village Care Limited, on Friday 7 August, the home has been prevented from providing nursing and care services with immediate effect due to serious concerns raised about the safety and quality of care provided to residents.

Chief inspector of adult social care at the CQC, Andrea Sutcliffe, said: “The examples of deteriorating care in this case, many of which we are unable to report on until the legal process is fully complete, are simply dreadful and I am appalled that the provider allowed the situation to get this bad.

“When we rated The Old Village School Nursing Home as Inadequate, we were very clear what was needed to improve the care for people living there as we want services to improve.

“Taking action to move people from their home urgently as a last resort is always a difficult judgement. It is our expectation that providers should use our inspection reports to get to grips with their problems and ensure they sort them out.

“But when people’s safety and quality of life are judged to be more at risk by staying than moving, we have no option but to use our powers to intervene.”

The Old Village School Nursing Home provided care for older people and young people living with highly specialised needs as the result of Acquired Brain Injury. The home was rated Inadequate and placed under special measures after an unannounced inspection in June, following complaints about the quality of care being delivered.

Ms Sutcliffe added: “I fully understand the distress and feelings of anger that this causes but I firmly believe this is the right thing for people and their families as everyone should have safe, high-quality and compassionate care. As the regulator, we are always on their side.

“The responsibility for the failings at The Old Village School Nursing Home rests squarely with the owners of this service.

“They completely let down the people they were meant to be caring for and should be ashamed of themselves.”

Concerns were raised about the care being received at the home. One nurse said: “The skill mix here is all wrong. There is inadequate staffing and one trained nurse cannot manage this.” While another member of staff said: “We are pulled in all directions and sometimes don't know what we should be doing.”

The CQC worked with Bedfordshire Council’s Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to ensure those at the home were moved safely.

Additional inspections were carried out by the CQC in August to see if improvements had been made. As a result of these findings, the CQC has taken measures to prevent the nursing home being able to offer care services to residents for their own safety.