Milton Keynes brain injury rehab home rated inadequate by watchdog
The CQC has placed Thomas Edward Mitton House in special measures after inspectors found major concerns
A rehabilitation home for individuals recovering from brain injuries in Milton Keynes, has been rated inadequate and placed into special measures by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Thomas Edward Mitton House, operated by The Disabilities Trust, trading as Brainkind, provides personal or nursing care for up to 16 people, primarily on a short-term basis.
The CQC's recent inspection in April and May - the first since Brainkind took over - rated the service as inadequate in the categories of safe, effective, and well-led.
Brainkind says it has immediately started to address the key areas identified for improvement to “ensure the people we support have a positive experience and a good quality of life whilst in our care.”
Hazel Roberts, CQC deputy director of adult social care in the east of England, highlighted several issues: “The home wasn’t thoroughly assessing these needs before they arrived, and they didn’t always involve people and their families in planning their care.
"Because of this, staff often relied on care plans that lacked detail, contained conflicting information, and which didn’t always include people’s preferences, strengths, goals, or how to communicate with them.
“In some cases, people arriving from hospital had to return quickly because the home couldn’t meet their needs.
“However, staff, relatives, and people living in the home spoke positively about the new management team. They reacted constructively to our feedback and started implementing improvements immediately. Some individual staff knew the people in their care well, and most people told us staff were kind”, she added.
The CQC says also says leadership lacked oversight, as they “hadn’t always investigated when things went wrong, which had allowed the problems we found to develop unchecked.”
Ayesha Trott, Executive Director for Service Delivery said: “Delivering high quality care to the people we support is our priority and is very important to us. I want to assure you that we are working hard to address the issues and deliver high standards of care for everybody we support.
At present 86% of Brainkind services across the UK are rated ‘Good/ Compliant or equivalent’ or above by the regulators and we are committed to achieving this at TEM House.”
A spokesperson for Brainkind added: “We have already made some changes to the management team at TEM by seconding senior managers and we are also developing the local leadership team.
“We have developed a robust improvement and action plan for all the areas that CQC have highlighted need improvement, and this is being closely monitored by the Director of Operations South and the Head of Quality, and we are working on the implementation of the plan.”
The CQC has imposed conditions requiring Thomas Edward Mitton House to update them monthly on their improvement progress. Special measures involve intense monitoring to ensure improvements and safety during this period.
“We’ll continue to monitor the home closely to ensure improvements are made promptly, and that people are kept safe in the meantime. We won’t hesitate to take further action if we are concerned for people’s safety,” Ms Roberts said.