Wroughton care home’s rating brought down after CQC inspection
Moormead Care Home is now rated ‘inadequate’
A care home in Wroughton has been downgraded from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘inadequate’ following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) earlier this year.
Moormead Care Home had already received warning notices from the CQC last July due to concerns regarding safe care, treatment, good management and staffing.
The most recent inspection in February and March this year found that these regulations were still being breached.
Neil Cox, CQC’s deputy director of operations in Hampshire, said: “It’s deeply concerning that on our return to Moormead Care Home, we found a decline in the standard of care rather than the expected improvements.
“Staff didn’t consistently support people’s independence, and many people didn’t fully understand their rights or have the information needed to make informed decisions about their care and wellbeing.
“Leaders failed to include critical details in personal hygiene plans, such as what individuals could manage on their own and when staff support was needed.
“They also didn’t reflect people’s individual needs in wider care plans, as key preferences, like how they wanted to take their medication, were missing.
“For those on high-risk medications such as blood thinners or paraffin-based creams, risk assessments were often absent, putting people at serious risk, especially in case of a fall or fire.”
Moormead Care Home – which provides personal support to adults, including people living with dementia – is run by Fidelity Healthcare Moormead Limited.
The care home has not had a manager since July 2024.
Three out of five areas have become worse
The latest inspection did not only downgrade the service’s overall rating, but also brought down ratings in the ‘safe’ and ‘well-led’ areas from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘inadequate’ as well as the ‘caring’ rating from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’.
‘Responsive’ and ‘effective’ remain rated as ‘requires improvement’.
“We also found leaders provided inadequate guidance around choking risks. While they gave some advice on seating positions, there were no instructions for staff to reduce distractions or encourage smaller bites during meals. Although staff generally understood dietary needs, the written documentation often failed to ensure safe practices were followed”, explained Mr Cox.
“Worryingly, some people identified as at risk of malnutrition had no mention of this in their care plans. Leaders stored their risk assessments separately, making it difficult for staff to access vital information quickly. In one case, staff miscalculated a malnutrition risk which was then overlooked during internal checks.”
The inspection additionally found the following shortcomings:
- Low staff morale due to lack of leadership
- Lack of responses to patients’ immediate needs, discomfort, concern or distress
- Lack of investigation of accidents by leadership
- Lack of reporting accidents to authorities by nominated individual in charge of management
Moormead Care Home has now been placed into special measures by the CQC which include close monitoring to ensure people’s safety as well as a structured timeframe which details when improvements need to be made by and what the consequences will be if they are not made.
Mr Cox added: “We expect Moormead to make rapid and widespread improvements and have imposed conditions on the service to ensure this happens. They are also now in special measures so CQC can check people are safe during this time. We will return to check on their progress.”
We have contacted Moormead Care Home for comment.