Diss care home downgraded to 'inadequate' following inspection

The inspection was prompted in part by an incident in which a person was seriously injured

Culrose House in Diss
Author: Sian RochePublished 27th Sep 2023
Last updated 27th Sep 2023

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has downgraded the rating of a Norfolk care home.

Culrose Residential Home, in Diss, went from requires improvement to inadequate, following an inspection in July.

It's a care home providing personal and nursing care for up to 32 older people.

The inspection was prompted in part by an incident in which a person in the service was seriously injured.

CQC are currently investigating this issue to decide whether further action needs to be taken and say they'll report on it when able to do so.

As well as dropping from requires improvement to inadequate overall, the home has also dropped from requires improvement to inadequate for how safe, effective, and well-led it is.

Inspectors didn’t look at how caring or responsive the home was, so these remain rated good.

Special measures

CQC has placed the service into special measure.

Inspectors say they hope it will focus the provider’s attention on making rapid and widespread improvements, and that their progress will be monitored.

Gill Hodgson-Reilly, CQC deputy director of operations in the East of England, said:

“When we inspected Culrose Residential Home, we were disappointed to find leaders had failed to identify and respond effectively to many issues affecting people’s safety in the home, including care that wasn’t adapted to people’s individual needs.

“For example, we previously raised concerns with leaders about managing people’s risks, but found this had continued to deteriorate. Our inspectors found many care plans had insufficient or conflicting information for staff on caring for people safely.

“Additionally, some care plans also contained conflicting or generic information on people’s ability to make choices in their own care. This didn’t respect their human rights.

"This didn't respect their human rights"

“We were also concerned about the high number of falls that people were having. We saw there weren’t always enough staff to respond quickly to call bells or alerts that people had stood up.

"In one incident, inspectors saw staff took 16 minutes to respond to an alert, at which time the person was found on the floor with a head wound. Leaders were aware of the high number of falls but hadn’t connected this with poor response times or staffing.

“While people told us they felt confident in the skills of staff, these shortfalls in leadership aren’t acceptable. Leaders must learn when things go wrong, support improvements, and improve oversight of the home to ensure people are being cared for safely.

“We’ve told the provider where improvements are needed and will continue to monitor the service closely, including through future inspections, to make sure these are carried out. If we’re not assured people are receiving safe care, we won’t hesitate to take further action.”

Culrose Residential Home was contacted for comment - they haven't responded.

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.