Stoke-on-Trent care home placed in special measures over safety concerns

A Stoke-on-Trent care home has been placed into special measures, due to concerns over residents' safety.

The Chimes Residential Care Home, in Penkhull, has been rated "inadequate" by the Care Quality Commission, following an inspection in July and August.

Inspectors found that the home, which provides support to older people with dementia and other conditions, was in breach of three regulations relating to management, safe care and treatment, and safeguarding.

According to the CQC report, residents were not consistently protected from avoidable harm, with risks and safeguarding concerns not always identified or monitored.

Some residents told inspectors they did not feel safe. One person had bruising on their arms, which they believed had been caused while staff were supporting them, but there had been no incident report.

Another incident involved a resident demonstrating self-harm and suicidal thoughts, but there had been no evidence this had been investigated or escalated through management systems.

Inspectors found the home had a "culture of fear", with staff feeling unable to raise concerns openly, after being ignored or shouted at.

There were also concerns about the care home's deteriorating condition due to poor maintenance, with inspectors seeing damaged radiators and stained walls.

Sonic Gold Limited, which runs the home on St Christopher Avenue, says the issues are being addressed, but insists there had been no concerns over residents' safety prior to the CQC inspection, the first since 2021.

Being placed in special measures means the home will be kept under close review by the CQC, with monitoring to ensure sufficient improvements are made.

The CQC has also begun the process of taking regulatory action to address the concerns, which Sonic Gold Limited has the right to appeal.

Amanda Lyndon, the CQC's deputy director of adult social care in the West Midlands, said inspectors found "poor leadership had created a culture of apathy, which filtered down to how some staff were treating people living at the home, resulting in them coming to harm and experiencing neglect".

"Leaders had created an environment where people didn't see the point of reporting concerns, one person living at the home told us nobody listened or cared," Ms Lyndon said.

"Staff also described speaking up as pointless and told us there was a culture of fear where managers shouted at them. Not listening to or acting on feedback meant leaders didn't create any opportunities for improvement to take place," she said.

"There was one case of a serious incident involving someone who demonstrated self-harm and suicidal thoughts. The incident wasn't escalated or properly investigated, leaving other staff and management unaware," Ms Lyndon said.

"This resulted in environmental ligature risks remaining present in that person's room, putting them in grave danger," she said.

Inspectors found that residents' and relatives' experiences of the home were "mixed", with some describing staff as "kind and respectful", while others raised concerns about their safety.

There were also concerns about there not being enough staff to provide the required level of care, and staff not administering medicines safely.

Kavit Hathi, a director at Sonic Gold Limited, said none of the home's residents had come to harm, and pointed out that the CQC had not seen any need to remove any residents.

"This is the first time the CQC have visited the home in five years. We had a visit from the city council in December and they raised no concerns over residents' safety with us. So it seems like we've gone from zero to 100 overnight," Mr Hathi said.

"We are working tirelessly to ensure that the safety of our residents is paramount. We have put in place plans to address all the issues raised by the CQC and that work is already underway," he said.

In response to the concerns raised over the resident who demonstrated suicidal thoughts, Mr Hathi said the issue had emerged overnight, just before the inspectors' unannounced visit, and there had not been time for it to be handled.