Westhope Place Nursing Home Horsham rated inadequate by CQC

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited Westhope Place, Horsham, partly due to the incident.

The home, in Queensway, was rated inadequate, the lowest possible rating, following the inspection which took place between March and May.

It was previously rated good.

“The assessment was prompted in part by notification of an incident following which a person using the service died,” the report said.

“This incident is subject to further investigation by CQC as to whether any regulatory action should be taken. As a result, this assessment did not examine the circumstances of the incident.

“However, information shared with CQC about the incident indicated potential concerns about the management of the risk of choking.

“This assessment examined those risks for other people.”

Inspectors found four breaches of the legal regulations in relation to safeguarding, safe care and treatment, person-centred care and governance.

They said risks to people were not “adequately identified or managed”, people’s health and welfare were not managed safely, people were not consistently protected from abuse and improper treatment, they did not always identify allegations of abuse or make referrals to the local authority under their safeguarding policy, staff did not identify self-injuries as potential abuse and staff did not always support people with medicines safely.

They said choking risks had “not always been managed safely”.

“CQC were notified of a person's unexpected death following an episode of choking,” the report said.

“The circumstance around their death is currently subject to coroners and police investigation.”

Read more: 'Unsafe' care home locked resident in room for 12 hours a day

They also said people were not always protected from the potential risk of “inappropriate restraint”.

And the report said some people experienced “avoidable harm” at the home, which cares for adults with learning disabilities.

Inspectors referenced one instance when a resident had been admitted to hospital leading to “significant concerns”.

The report said following the incident safeguarding enquires had identified “significant shortfalls with staff understanding of epilepsy and medicine practices”. 

“While enquiries were ongoing it was apparent managers and staff lacked skills and competence which resulted in this person not always receiving safe care, exposing them to potential avoidable harm,” said the report.

“Partners and the provider were working together to ensure safe systems of care were implemented to mitigate potential risks to people.”

While people the inspectors spoke to said they were “generally happy with their care”, their assessment found “elements of care did not meet the expected standards”.

“Some people used different ways of communicating including Makaton and finger spelling," said the report.

“We spent time observing the support and communication between people and staff in shared areas of the house and there were concerns around person-centred care.

“We observed staff not always supporting people in a person-centred manner or communicating in their preferred methods. The provider had not always ensured staff had received effective training to support people’s individual needs and had not always monitored staff skills or competence.”

Inspectors noted however that residents told them they felt safe living at the service and felt they could talk to staff.

The Argus has contacted Westhope Place for comment.