Meadowcroft Residential Care Home, in Steam Mill Road, Bradfield, has been rated Inadequate by the Care Quality Commission following an inspection between May 8 to June 6.
The previously Good graded care home requires improvement in the safe, effective, and caring categories, and it is inadequate in the responsive and well-led CQC categories.
The home is owned by two people, named only as Mr M J Volf and Mrs J L Volf in the report, who told inspectors they planned to close the service.
The care home is registered to support up to 10 autistic people or people with a learning or physical disability.
Location – Meadowcroft Residential Care Home (Image: Google Maps) CQC inspectors say despite the best effort of staff, who were kind and caring, staff and residents were “let down by poor leadership by the home’s owners”.
A CQC spokesperson said: “The home’s owners had demolished parts of the building to add a seven-bedroom extension, without always meaningfully consulting the people living in the home about these changes or showing how this was in the best interests of residents with limited mental capacity.
“Because of the building works, the owners had moved two people to a sister service that wasn’t registered to meet the needs of people with a learning disability.
“The home’s garden had also been restricted and there was significant construction noise.
“These leaders hadn’t assessed the impact this would have on people, such as for one person whose care record showed they were distressed by loud noises and changes to their environment.”
The care home also “failed to protect people from safety risks” such as unlocked doors leading to bedrooms that were being demolished.
Inspectors also the home did not always assess or reduce risks to residents’ safety, as some assessments lacked details while others were “missing entirely”.
The report said: “The provider did not always have a proactive and positive culture of safety based on openness and honesty.
“Staff did not always listen to concerns about safety and did not always investigate and report safety events.”
The care home failed to report or investigate a safety incident involving unexplained bruising on a resident.
The report said: “A relative of a resident told us: I’m not aware [person] has suffered any accidents or injuries whilst [they’ve] been at Meadowcroft.
“However, I did notice that [person] had a bruise around [their] eye that I had not been informed about prior to my visit.”
Inspectors asked a staff member about this said residents do get the odd bruise from somewhere, hey have scratched themselves but there were “no major issues”.
Marks or injuries were recorded on body maps but there was no formal incident reporting.
The care home bosses also told the CQC they would no longer be providing be providing a specialist service for people with a learning disability and or autistic people at Meadowcroft Residential Care Home.
However, there was “no clear progression planning in place for people who may need to move out of the home”.
Mike Volf, of Stour Valley Care Group, which runs the home, has confirmed most residents should be moved to their new homes by Friday.
He said: “At Meadowcroft, the wellbeing and comfort of our residents has always been, and will continue to be, our highest priority.
“Following the CQC inspection, all building work was halted.
“While we are deeply disappointed that our efforts to enhance and improve our facilities have led to this outcome, we remain fully committed to providing the highest standard of care throughout our residents’ transition to their new homes, most of which will be completed by this Friday.”