CQC Has Taken Action Against St Mary’s Care Home, County Durham

St Mary’s Care Home, Chester-le-Street, County Durham, continues to be in special measures to protect people using the service, after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) again rated it as Inadequate.

St Mary's Care Home provides accommodation for upto 30 people who require nursing or personal care. During the last, unannounced, inspection, the CQC found the service provider had not taken the necessary steps to deal with issues raised at an earlier inspection, and so the care home has again been rated as Inadequate, and continues to be in breach of the regulations.

Inspectors found:

• The Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST), which gives recommendations about people's nutritional requirements if they are at risk of malnutrition, was not being properly used, and that staff were not aware of what snacks were available for people who were diabetic.
• That Medication Administration Records for people's prescribed topical medicines had not been completed.
• Topical medicine opening dates were not being recorded and when appropriate destroyed in line with the manufacturer's guidance.
• Activities recorded as taking place for residents every afternoon did not always take place, as staff were called to carry out other duties.
• Appropriate supervision of residents was not always taking place, with staff using the TV as a ‘babysitter’ during the inspection.

Debbie Westhead, Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care in the North, said “People are entitled to services which provide safe, effective, compassionate and well-led high quality care.

“We found the care provided at St Mary’s Care Home fell a long way short of the standards we expect services to provide. We are deeply concerned that despite a number of requirements for improvement made during our last inspection, these had not been acted upon, placing people at risk of harm, and continuing to let people down. This must not continue.

We are now taking further action to protect people and we will report on this when the legal process is complete. In the meantime we will continue to work with Durham County Council ensure that people are safe and get the services they need.