Glencairn Home Dorchester needs improvement after CQC report

Glencairn Residential Home on Cornwall Road in Dorchester was inspected by the CQC earlier this year, with the home found to be in need of improvement.

In their report, inspectors noted there were no systems in place to keep people safe or improve medicines management.

They said they reviewed eight quality statements during their visit and identified five breaches of legal regulations.

With regards to safeguarding, inspectors said there were ‘insufficient’ risk assessments completed, as well as care records lacking assessment and care plans.

During the inspection, the home's acting manager was open about medicines management not being safe when the inspection was started, the report said, and told inspectors about some of the problems the home had dealt with so far.

This included taking six hours to clear the garage of medicines, many of which were for people who had died - all of which should have been disposed of. 

Inspectors found significant shortfalls in the governance and oversight of the service and said there had been a lack of direction and leadership, with records not accurate and learning was not taken from any incidents.

The shortfalls meant there were two breaches of regulations which saw inspectors issue the care provider, Gingerbread Commercial, with a warning notice covering these.

Warning notices are issued to a registered person where they have "failed to comply with the relevant requirements", as in the quality of the care they are responsible for falls below what is legally required.

Inspectors further found that care was not provided in line with best practice guidance and referrals for healthcare advice were ‘not always happening as needed.’

They found no one-to-one supervision sessions with senior staff, and people in the home did not have all the Personal Emergency Egress Plans (PEEP) in place.

An inspector said: “We were not able to view a safeguarding or accident and incident log and there was no evidence of investigations and learning from these events. The local safeguarding authority had supplied copies of all alerts from October 2023 however these had just been filed without review or analysis. 

“Staff were not prepared for new admissions as a result of poor preadmissions information, having to learn peoples needs as they met and got to know them.”

Despite this, inspectors heard that relatives were satisfied their family members were safe and believed this was because staff were aware of their needs, and knew them well. 

Staff also told inspectors they felt unsettled as the service was undergoing significant changes and there was no permanent arrangement for the management team during the visit.

Inspectors also found that people received support when they needed it, for example, a person had fallen and it took less than a minute for staff to attend to them. 

Concerns were raised by inspectors after one relative told them that their family member tended to hide their medicines and were not certain if staff were aware of this.

Ralph Sanders, the owner of Glencairn Residential Home, told the Echo there was a problem with documentation during the visit from inspectors, and that it was ‘embarrassing’ not being able to lay hands on documents when required.

He said: “We’ve made great strides in sorting out these issues that were highlighted in the previous inspection, and we have sent off details on what we have done since then.

"We’re expecting them again fairly soon to see the changes we have made, and fingers crossed, we can improve on our previous rating.

“It was encouraging to read that our level of care was excellent, something that has been fed back to staff.”