Cornwall Councillor explains changes made in care homes following Morleigh review
Cabinet member for adult social care wants to ensure incidents that happened within the Morleigh Group homes never happens again.
The Cornwall councillor in charge of adult social care has explained what changes have been made as a result of the Morleigh review to try and prevent such incidents happening again.
Rob Rotchell, who himself was previously a nurse and a manager of care homes, said that he had an understanding of how care homes operate.
The councillor, who was not in his Cabinet position at the time of the incidents, said:
“I find it very difficult when I hear things like this going on, not only as a professional but as a human being.
“Some of the most vulnerable people in care environments not getting the kind of care they should be getting – not just the professional stuff, but the compassionate stuff as well. It is not just about medication and things like that, it is the care bit as well.”
Cllr Rob Rotchell, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Cornwall Council
The Cabinet member for adult social care, said that it was clear that there had been work going on to try and address some of the issues in the Morleigh Group homes as early as 2014.
But he admits that the evidence of what actually happened “reflects the fractured nature of all agencies at that time”.
“There were a whole range of organisations involved in what was going on but the fractured nature of the relationship at the time meant that they were not sharing what they knew individually. Not because it was broken but it hadn’t been brought together.”
Cllr Rob Rotchell
One of the most positive outcomes from the review, he said, was to bring all the various agencies which are involved with care homes together.
One of the key points in the review report is that many whistleblowing reports went to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and were not then passed on to partner agencies such as Cornwall Council.
Cllr Rotchell said that changes had been made so that if whistleblowers approach any agency the information is immediately shared with all the other relevant organisations.
Asked whether he could state that nothing would occur like this again Cllr Rotchell said it would be impossible to state that 100%.
“The assessment is so different now and the organisations are working much more closely that it reduces the risk dramatically.
“We have different procedures and policies in place and have invested time, money and staffing into making sure that we can respond better when concerns are raised.
“One of the problems was that all the partners had their own policies and procedures but they weren’t integrated. That is probably one of the key issues that we have now addressed.”
Cllr Rob Rotchell
Cllr Rotchell also pointed out that Cornwall Council had taken a stronger role in trying to help providers when there are issues or even, as it did with Trefula House in St Day, buying care homes and then operating them.
The Morleigh Group review, Cllr Rotchell said, led to the council reviewing all other care home providers in Cornwall to ensure there were not similar issues elsewhere.
The Cabinet member admitted that for the relatives of those who had been affected by the incidents at the Morleigh homes the impact could be “quite profound”.
He said he could understand how families put their trust in residential and nursing homes to care for their loved ones.
Recalling how his own mother was cared for in a home he said that when he spoke to the manager he made clear the responsibility he was placing on the home.
“I remember sitting there with the manager and saying ‘the most important thing that I can give you is the responsibility to look after my mum as I only have one and she is very, very, very important’.”
Cllr Rob Rotchell
Cllr Rotchell said that for most people they will only move their relatives into a home when they have no other option.
“They would much rather look after them at home – it is a big thing to hand over that responsibility.
“I am genuinely sorry (to the relatives of Morleigh home residents) as you are investing a huge responsibility in the care home and in the wider system.
“Part of my job – and I inherited this – is to say how can we fix this. I can’t turn the clock back and make this better. What we can do is work better and do what we can to make sure something like this couldn’t happen again.
“Giving a 100% guarantee is impossible but people can be sure that there are things in place now to mitigate against things like that.”
Cllr Rob Rotchell
Cllr Rotchell said that the council and the Safeguarding Adults Board had accepted the report and recommendations in full and work had already been done in following those and putting them all in place.
He said that a Safeguarding Adults Board meeting this week there had been representatives from all the different agencies and he could see that there was now complete sharing of information between them all.
Cllr Rotchell said that the requirements of the CQC and the council were also now a lot stronger and would help to improve standards at care homes.