Care home ordered to make improvements by inspectors

A care home in Leicestershire has been told to improve after inspectors found some residents had run out of medicine and missed hospital appointments.

White Acres in Shepshed, which cares for people with learning disabilities and autism, was downgraded by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) from "good" to "requires improvement" following an inspection in August.

Inspectors also said there was a risk of infection spread when an unlocked bin containing clinical waste was left in an area open to the street.

A spokesperson for Prime Life, which runs the care home, said it was "hugely disappointed" with the outcome, but it would work to return the service to its "optimum level".

The CQC said inspectors identified a number of medicines that had not been administered to people because they were out of stock.

It added the manager investigated this after the inspection, but could not establish whether medicines had not been ordered promptly by staff or whether there had been problems with the pharmacy.

"This meant people were exposed to the risk of delayed or missed medicines administration, which could have negatively impacted their health, wellbeing and the effective management of their medical conditions," the report said.

However, it said people "mostly received the right medicines at the right time".

The CQC said arrangements for co-ordinating healthcare appointments were "not effective", and several hospital follow-up appointments had been missed.

Some staff described "stress, a lack of direction, and gaps in supervision" but received positive feedback from residents' families, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) added.

"This placed people at risk of delays in receiving necessary assessment, treatment or ongoing monitoring," it said.

The CQC said the home was "clean, calm and comfortable" and had "kind and compassionate" staff.

"The registered manager was personable, knew people well and was observed engaging positively with people," the report said.

"Staff appeared engaged with people and were seen sitting with them, talking and taking part in activities."

Prime Life said the outcome of the CQC inspection had "fallen below" the expectations it had of itself.

"White Acres offers a valuable service to the people of Shepshed and the surrounding areas, and we will work closely alongside our local commissioners to ensure the service returns to its optimum level and the residents of the home continue to receive the best care and support possible," a spokesperson said.

Additional reporting by Dan Hunt

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