Three Cheshire care homes rated as 'requires improvement' by CQC.

The Care Quality Commission has published reports stating that the care homes all have serious areas of concern.

Tarvin Court, Curzon House and Hazelmere House have been criticized by the watchdog, with Tarvin Court being rated as 'inadequate.'

The care service has been rated the worse of the three due to a number of issues including the failure of reporting safeguarding concerns to the relevant agencies. 

The visit was prompted by a previous failed inspection due to the lack of safe care and treatment. 

There were concerns with incomplete staff training records as 50% of staff had not received sufficient safeguarding training. 

Also outlined in the report:

'the management and review of accidents and incidents was not effective. For example, records identified that four people had sustained skin tears and bruises. The registered manager reviewed each document but did not identify trends or patterns or potential causes to these injuries to mitigate the risk of further harm to people.

Curzon House's previous inspection was rated inadequate and due to the failure of this investigation is now placed under special measures. The care service  failed on the question 'Is the service well led?'  both occasions.

The users of the service were at risk of receiving the wrong medication at the wrong time or the wrong dosage due to inaccurate medicine records.

Other issues included: the a lack of personalisation in care plans after hospital stays and towards the end of life, staff training was completed but not embedded into practice and the ineffective oversight of the practice by the provider. 

Hazelmere House was too condemned for their staff training records, as employees needed further training on capacity for consent. 

The investigation was prompted to the house after a user of the service sustained a serious injury. The incident was under criminal investigation so it could not be examined as part of the report. 

The inspection also revealed that measures designed to reduce risk were not always put in place so some people remained at risk. 

All three care homes have been told to put serious action plans in place to improve their quality of service.