Coventry old folks' home wrongly 'restricted people's liberty', says watchdog

[dutchman]

Care watchdog brands city home for elderly 'requires improvement'

A Coventry old people’s home “restricted people’s liberty”, a surprise inspection by a care watchdog found.

Belvedere Residential Home “had acted in people’s best interests to keep them safe” but without getting the necessary permission, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said.

The home in Belvedere Road, Earlsdon, was rated as ‘requires improvement’ by the CQC in a new report which said the registered manager had not understood their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

The report said: “They had acted in people’s best interests to keep them safe, without applying to the supervisory body for the authority to deliver care that restricted people’s liberty.”

The CQC explained that the registered manager told inspectors residents were not allowed to leave the home independently, because they did not have the capacity to understand the risks of going out alone.

The watchdog said: “They told us that staff knew where everyone was all the time.

“For example, staff always escorted people from their bedroom to the lounge, to the dining room and back to their own room at the end of the day.

“People who were able to walk around independently were always within hearing range of staff and staff always knew where they were.

“This meant that people’s care and support met the test for being deprived of their liberty; that is they did not have the capacity to consent to their freedom being restricted, they were not free to leave the home independently and were under continuous supervision.

“The registered manager had not applied to the local supervisory board for the authority to deprive people of their liberty in their best interests.”

At the previous inspection by the CQC in April last year the home was also rated ‘requires improvement’ after the CQC found a breach of the regulations relating to getting people’s consent to care.

Since that time, no improvements had been made in checking that staff updated people’s care plans effectively when their needs, abilities and daily records were reviewed.

The report added: “People’s written care plans were not updated to include changes in people’s needs and abilities that care staff knew about. Staff understood their responsibilities to keep people safe from abuse.

“People’s medicines were managed and administered safely. Risks related to the temperature of the water supply and to fire alarm equipment were not managed consistently. There were enough staff to support people safely.”

The home was inspected by the CQC on February 23 and 24 this year.