A BRADFORD care home has been rated ‘inadequate’ in its first inspection.

A report from the Care Quality Commission said the visit to Wykewood was “prompted in part by notification of an incident during which a person using the service died”.

The report said: “This incident has been reviewed and action is being taken to investigate by the appropriate agency.

“As a result, this inspection did not examine the circumstances of the incident.

“However, the information shared with CQC about the incident indicated potential concerns about the risk of staff not following procedure in relation to levels of observation of people with high-level needs. This inspection examined those risks.”

The care home, which supports adults living with complex mental health needs and neuro-disabilities, was given an overall ‘inadequate’ rating.

Wykewood, on Huddersfield Road, Wyke, was also rated ‘inadequate’ for safety and leadership, ‘requires improvement’ for effectiveness and responsiveness and ‘good’ for the inspection question  ‘is the service caring?’.

The report said: “Staff had failed to maintain the levels of observation required to make sure people were safe, which had resulted in serious incidents.

“Staff were not always sure about the level of support and observation people needed. There was a lack of effective monitoring of records relating to the observation of people with high levels of need.

“Managers had introduced systems to address these issues, but they had not been fully embedded at the time of the inspection.

“Medicines were not always managed or stored safely. Some people had missed some doses of their medicines because there was no stock available in the home.

“Records about medicines were not always accurate and there was a lack of information to make sure ‘when required’ medicines or medicines to be given at a specific time, were given safely.

“Staffing was arranged in line with people's dependency levels, but we were not confident there were always enough staff available to meet people's needs effectively.”

In looking at leadership, the report said there were “widespread and significant shortfalls in service leadership”.

It added: “Leaders and the culture they created did not assure the delivery of high-quality care.”

However, the report said “people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care”

Selina Wall, managing director for Wykewood, said: “Our residents’ safety and wellbeing is our main priority.

“We take the CQC’s findings very seriously and have already made a number of improvements to address the specific concerns highlighted in CQC’s report.

“We continue to explore and implement additional ways to further enhance the quality of care for our residents.”

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