Northampton care home must ask for permission to accept new residents after scathing inspection

A Northampton care home in special measures has to ask the health watchdog for consent to accept new residents after failing to make sufficient improvements.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has restricted new admissions into St Michael's House without its prior permission following an inspection in September.

A spokesperson for the St Michaels Avenue nursing home said they are working with the CQC to make the necessary changes.

Its overall rating from the CQC remained at 'requires improvement', with safety given the same score and leadership considered 'inadequate' in the report published last month.

"People were satisfied living at the home and felt they received adequate care. However, there were continued failings in relation to the management, governance and oversight of the service," the report reads.

St Michael's Home was placed into special measures after an inspection in October 2019 and the latest visit on September 15, was to follow up the last one.

Inspectors found the management team at the care home, which looks after up to 13 adults with mental health conditions and/or people who misuse substances, had failed to do so.

They had been unable to implement effective governance structures to adequately review people's care and had insufficient oversight of people's care plans and risk assessments, according to the report.

The management team also did not ensure adequate records were maintained in relation to the care people received and had failed to audit key documents.

"The management team had an inadequate understanding of their role in ensuring, and reviewing, that people received the care they required," it reads.

"They failed to understand the requirements of how to run a 'good' service."

Inspectors also found that residents did not have all the risk assessments they required to reduce their known risks.

For example, one person at risk of malnutrition did not have a risk assessment in place giving guidance to staff to minimise this risk.

Since the last inspection the provider had introduced some personalised risk assessments however they were not regularly reviewed or updated when changes to people's care needs had occurred, the report adds.

As St Michael's remains in special measures, the CQC will return within six months to check for significant improvements.