Longsight care home shuts after damning report reveals rats, insects and urine soaked carpets
Inspectors said rooms in Overton House smelt strongly of urine.
A care home in Longsight has shut down after a damning inspection found soiled sheets went unwashed for days, an ‘exceptionally unsafe’ outside space and the ‘strong odour of urine’ around the house.
Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) visiting Overton House also found bait traps in residents’ bedrooms to tackle a ‘serious and widespread’ problem with rats.
During the visit, an inspector found an insect crawling on their trouser leg and another crawling along the carpet.
Soiled laundry was left in the laundry room for days, meaning there was ‘frequently a shortage of essential items’ like bedsheets, quilts and blankets, the report said.
“In one bedroom that was occupied we found a serious malodour of urine and the carpet was damp in places due to urine contamination,” it added.
Inspectors described how they found ‘widespread systemic failures and multiple breaches of the Health and Social Care Act’.
The CQC made an urgent referral to Manchester council’s environmental health team, who found an ‘inhabitation of rats’.
“The Environmental Health Officer also confirmed the insects observed in the dining room were carpet beetles,” it added.
The provider, Overton House Limited, decided to close the home following the ‘inadequate’ finding in September – which was published earlier this month.
But the CQC also decided to remove the provider’s registration.
“There was a disregard for the human rights of people who used the service and there was no consideration given to any aspect of equality and diversity and to those people who may be from diverse backgrounds,” it added.
The majority of the 14 residents living there at the time of the inspection had ‘enduring mental health issues and were extremely vulnerable,’ it said.
Alternative accommodation had been found for all of the residents within a week of the visit, the report said.
The inspectors said that while staff were ‘well-intentioned’, management and workers had become ‘completely disengaged from the service’ and there was an ‘apathy across all aspects of the home.’
The report paints a picture of residents at risk of ‘social isolation’ with ‘no meaningful activities’, a ‘filthy’ outhouse and an outdoor space that was ‘exceptionally unsafe’.
“The concrete floor was uneven and posed a serious falls risk, hazardous materials associated with building maintenance had been discarded, there were loose bricks and rubble present which posed a risk of injury and steep concrete steps leading down to the basement area posed a serious falls risks,” it said.
Inspectors also found rubbish being stored ‘inappropriately’ in the basement area, while the ground floor fire escape door was ‘faulty’ and needed to be urgently replaced.
Describing the food storage area, inspectors said: “We viewed an external outhouse to the rear of the premises and found perishable food items were being stored unsafely.
“For example, potatoes were stored on the floor in a container without a lid, carrots were stored on a shelf in a container with an ill-fitting lid, and butternut squash was stored in an open cardboard box, underneath a tool kit.
“Furthermore, located next to the food storage area, we found highly volatile paint tins, paint thinners, paint brushes and other decorating/maintenance materials.”
The inspection added that ‘whilst reviewing documentation related to staff rotas, we found a number of discrepancies which lead us to believe records had been falsified’.
It said: “We asked the registered manager about this and they admitted this had taken place.”
The previous CQC report was from 2016 when under previous management the home had scored a ‘good’ rating.
But since the new provider took over, ‘every aspect of the service had been allowed to deteriorate which meant fundamental standards of quality and safety could not be met,’ it said.
Adil Ashraf, listed as the ‘nominated individual’ by the CQC, released a statement after being contacted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
In it, he blamed staff for the ‘inadequate’ rating.
The statement quoted an email sent to the CQC, which read: “After liaising with other shareholders of the business and having a long, realistic discussion around the current issues Overton House faces, it has come to light that they are not comfortable in going forward with continuing carrying out regulated activities.
“The fundamental reason is that the management of the home is poor, which clearly reflects the outcome of the CQC inspection.
“Shareholders feel that the residents deserve better.”
On pest control, Mr Ashraf said there had been problems ‘in the past’ due to ‘the extensive size and age of the property’.
“At the time of inspection, bate sic traps were around the home as precaution measures – and there were no signs of rodents,” he said.