Council-run care home in Newbury 'needs improvement'

Management at a Newbury care home, run by West Berkshire Council, has been labelled inadequate by health officials.

And safety at the Birchwood Care Home also requires improvement according to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which inspected it in February.

Birchwood is one of three care facilities run by West Berkshire Council, having been acquired from a private firm in 2017.

The council took over management after the home received an 'inadequate' CQC report under private management – it was then rated 'good' in June 2021.

The home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing to 49 people aged 65 and over.

Some people at the care home on Birchwood Road are living with dementia, physical disabilities or sensory impairments.

Leadership, management and governance systems were deemed poor and did not demonstrate the service was well led, people were safe, or their care and support needs were being consistently met, the report said.

It added that systems in place to oversee the service and ensure compliance with the fundamental standards were not always effective and they did not enable the manager and provider to identify when their legal responsibilities were not being met.

The health, safety and welfare of people using the service were not always managed effectively and required records were not always kept or available, the inspection found.

It also said risks to people were not always regularly reviewed to enable staff to provide safe care and medicines were not managed safely.

People were placed at risk of harm due to a lack of information for staff about how to manage people's medicines, it added. And audits of people's medicines were not completed consistently and not used effectively to address errors and omissions, the inspectors found.

Suitably qualified staff were not always deployed to administer people's medicines safely and incidents and accidents were not analysed to prevent recurrences and keep people safe, the report noted.

West Berkshire Council has said that "plans are in place" to address the concerns raised.

It said the recent inspection was instigated following communications with the CQC to discuss the council’s own concerns.

The district authority also stated that it has been in touch with the home to advise residents and their families of the outcome of the inspection. It said it has reassured them that the issues highlighted in the report will be addressed "as a matter of urgency".

West Berkshire’s executive member for adult social care Joanne Stewart (Con, Tilehurst Birch Copse) said: “We have a commitment to provide the highest standards of care and have now put a clear plan of action in place and will be working closely with the Care Quality Commission to ensure the necessary changes are implemented.”

She added: "The safety of our clients and staff is always our priority, and we have full confidence that all areas highlighted are being addressed as a matter of urgency.”

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about medicines, infection control, and the management of the service.

The home has been asked to provide an action plan for improvement.