Room for improvement at Hartlepool care home say inspectors

Operators of a Hartlepool care home say they have addressed areas that official inspectors found need improvement.
Queens Meadow Care HomeQueens Meadow Care Home
Queens Meadow Care Home

Queens Meadow Care Home in Stockton Road was inspected by regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in July as part of its new national programme of inspections.

It found the home, which cares for 54 residents, including some with dementia, required improvement.

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It was rated Good under the headings of how caring and effective it is, but requiring improvement due to some issues with safety, responsiveness and leadership.

During the two day inspection in July, the CQC team spoke with eight residents, eight relatives, a visitor and numerous staff, as well as looking around the building and spending time in the communal areas.

It found safety checks had not always been carried out and some areas of bathrooms could not be kept fully clean because they had surfaces that were not sealed.

Care records were not always sufficiently detailed to make sure people received personalised and consistent care.

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And although the provider carried out regular monitoring of the service, some identified shortfalls had not always been addressed so improvements had not been made.

On the plus side, residents and relatives said they felt the home is safe and comfortable and described staff as caring and friendly.

The CQC said there were enough staff to support people’s needs and dignity was promoted.

There were also a number of in-house activities and social events.

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Debbie Westhead, the CQC’s deputy chief inspector for adult social care in the north, said: “If we find that a service requires improvement, we will expect them to provide us with a full plan setting out how they will address the issue.

“We will share our findings with local commissioners, and we will return in due course to check that they have made the required improvements.”

A spokesperson for the home said: “We’re delighted to see our staff mentioned several times as ‘caring’, ‘friendly’, ‘lovely’ and ‘smashing’.

“The staff always strive to provide first class care at Queens Meadow Care Home and we’re pleased the report recognises their hard work.

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“We have already addressed the few areas the CQC highlighted as requires improvement and, as always, we will continue to find ways to improve our high level of service based on external feedback from residents and their relatives.”