Continued staff shortage at care home will impact on residents' health, says critical report - The Malvern Observer

Continued staff shortage at care home will impact on residents' health, says critical report

Malvern Editorial 13th Nov, 2015 Updated: 20th Oct, 2016   0

CONTINUED shortages of night-time staff at a Malvern care home could effect the long-term health care of its residents, a critical report has warned.

A document from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has urged bosses of The Springs Nursing and Residential Home to improve in three major areas following an inspection held at the home in September.

Inspectors have said safety, the caring of residents and the management of the Spring Lane service ‘requires improvement’.

The home, which is run by Bupa, has almost 60 elderly residents who suffer from dementia.




The report, which can be read online, said the care home was well staffed during the day-time but found it was short staffed at night during the second day of its inspection.

It stated the home’s area manager had acknowledged there were shortfalls in staffing at times but was in the process of sorting the problem.


The report states: “People and their relatives told us that they felt safe and staff treated them well. However, because of staff vacancies and sickness sometimes there was a lack of staff to meet people’s care needs.

“People did not consistently benefit from enough staff to meet their care needs.

“There was a potential effect to people’s health and welfare if there continued to a regular shortage in the staffing levels.”

The report also said inspectors saw some staff show little or no communication with residents during meal times.

It adds: “On many occasions staff were seen to be kind and caring and thoughtful towards people.

“However, we saw staff did not consistently treat people with dignity and respect whilst supporting their needs.

“For example, we saw some staff not interacting with people whilst they supported them during meal times. The registered manager took action and improved the meal time experience for people living at the home.”

The commission also raised concerns some staff at the home had shown a task-led culture rather than one focusing on its residents.

However, the report did praise the care home and graded its levels of effectiveness and response to situations as ‘good’.

It said: “Staff were knowledgeable about how to manage people’s individual risks and were able to respond to people’s needs.

“People were protected against the risks associated with medicines because the provider had appropriate arrangements in place to manage them.”

In response to the report, Bupa said it was committed in resolving issues such as staffing levels and improving residents’ meal time experience.

A spokeswoman for the home said: “We are pleased the CQC inspectors recognised that our residents felt safe, and that staff are supportive and treat our residents well.

“The CQC identified areas where we need to make changes to our staffing levels and our residents’ meal time experience, and we are committed to making all the required improvements and meeting the standards.

“The health and wellbeing of our residents is our top priority.”

To see the full report, visit www.cqc.org.uk.

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