CQC calls 'poor care' found by Dispatches at Bupa care home 'wholly unacceptable'

Care Quality Commission has called the “poor care”’ at a care home in Chester, which was uncovered by the Channel 4’s Dispatches programme, “wholly unacceptable”.

The investigative TV programme sent in an undercover reporter to Crawfords Walk care home. Secret filming revealed a resident wandering around in the middle of the night having gone through an unlocked door with no alarm, a resident being left in clothes wet with urine for over an hour despite this being reported to staff and care workers shouting at distressed residents.

Dispatches also alleged that the home’s medicine cabinet was left unlocked and unsupervised and residents were woken up at 6am and made to get up even though they said they were tired and wanted to sleep. The undercover reporter was told incontinence pads were “rationed”.

Joan Elliott, head of Bupa Care Services, said that Bupa does not accept a number of the abuse and neglect claims and added: “We are shocked and saddened by these allegations.’

“However we are taking this very seriously and are working with the CQC, local council and NHS.

“We are clear that these behaviours and practices are unacceptable and we have suspended individuals and made a number of improvements in the home.”

Bupa has said that the fire doors are now alarmed and the nurse looking after the medicine cabinet had been suspended. It also denied that there was a shortage of incontinence pads at the home.

In response to the Dispatches' allegations, Andrea Sutcliffe, the CQC’s chief inspector of adult social care, said: “Bupa and its managers have a responsibility to provide safe, compassionate and high quality services but have failed to do so - despite their promises to address the concerns the Care Quality Commission has raised. Bupa has betrayed the very people it is paid to look after.

“The shocking evidence presented here of understaffing, bad practice and poor care confirms the issues we have raised and underlines why we have taken action.”

She added: “We have used our enforcement powers to protect people and drive improvement - but it is ultimately up to Bupa to deliver this improvement and we will hold them to account through further use of our enforcement powers if they fail to do so.”

The CQC’s last inspection of Crawford Walk was in September 2016, with inspectors giving it an inadequate rating. They found there was no registered manager in place and ‘staffing levels not sufficient to meet the needs of people supported’.

Fire safety management of the home needed reviewing and inspectors found ‘some staff were abrupt and dismissive in their manner and approach towards people’.