Boroughbridge care home placed in special measures by CQC

Riverside Court were ordered to make improvements and follow an action plan for success following a negative inspection report in May 2015.

However, during an unannounced inspection on November 2, 2015, inspectors criticised the leadership, record-keeping and effectiveness of the service.

As a result of not making sufficient improvements and continuing to breach regulations, Riverside Court was deemed 'inadequate' and placed into special measures.

Stephen Jenkins has managed the Riverside Court for 27 years and said the small size of the care home contributed to the poor inspection report.

He said: "The problems are surrounding the bookwork and the legislation has also changed hugely. So it's about trying to keep up.

"We have 22 residents here and I have staff that have been here for over 20 years. We are familiar with each resident on a personal side. I can go through their likes and their dislikes.

"Big 70-bed care homes can't do that. But, they do have resources that mean they can have 10 people sat in an office to make sure their paper work is perfect.

"We have struggled with being a smaller care home. There are just a few of us here but we are now working overtime to be compliant on what we've been pulled up on."

In the report, published on January 28, inspectors noted that the service was continuing to run without a registered manner and staff were operating without up to date safeguarding policy.

The inspector said: "Staff were not working within a well led service which had effective leadership and robust systems and processes in place to keep people safe and provide effective care.

"The service was still not following the principles of the Mental Capacity Act. Staff had not received training about the legislation and did not understand the principles of the legislation.

"Assessments of people’s ability to make decisions had not been completed when it was judged that they may lack the capacity to do so; there was no evidence of best interest decisions being made on people’s behalf

"Record keeping was poor and confidential records were not stored securely. There was a lack of quality monitoring which meant we could not be assured people received the care they needed."

Mr Jenkins said his acting manager, who handles the legislation and bookwork, was away in Australia on the day of the inspection.

However, he admitted he should have been able to cope with her departure and access the information for the CQC inspectors.

Despite the inspector's comments, Mr Jenkins said he was still confident the care home had a decent reputation in Boroughbridge and provided effective care.

He said: "I don't agree with everything in the report but sometimes it feels like you're banging your head against the wall.

"I can still sleep at night because I know all my residents are well looked after. But, if that paperwork and the risk assessment is not is place then the care home is deemed unsafe.

"The CQC are still trying to get care homes up to speed with new legislation. But this does not affect the way I look after my residents, we are still a big family here."