Northampton care home rated 'requires improvement' as it fails to reach 'good' standard for fifth consecutive time

A Northampton care home has been rated as requires improvement by the care watchdog – and this is the fifth consecutive time it has failed to be rated good.

Kingsthorpe Grange, in Harborough Road, was inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on January 9 and 11 this year, as a follow-up to an inspection in June last year.

The home, which cares for adults with dementia and mental health conditions, was found to be in breach of regulations last year and was told to take action and make improvements.

The latest inspection report has been published on the CQC website this week and inspectors say the provider remains in breach of regulations.

In the report, inspectors said: “We have identified breaches in relation risk management, dignity and respect, and oversight at this inspection.

“We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety.”

Inspectors rated the home as requires improvement in four categories, including safe, caring, responsive and effective. In the fifth category - well-led - the home was rated inadequate. In the 2023 inspection, well-led was graded as requires improvement.

The report added: “This meant there were widespread and significant shortfalls in service leadership. Leaders and the culture they created did not assure the delivery of high-quality care.”

Inspectors also said that systems and processes in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service had failed to identify and address concerns found during the inspection.

The report also says that relatives said people's clothing and personal items “often went missing” and inspectors saw unlabelled clothing and underwear in the laundry room and within people's individual wardrobes.

Inspectors added: “People were not always supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not always support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not support this practice.

“People had care plans in place detailing the care and support they needed from staff however, these were not always personalised and required further development.”

However, inspectors did also say residents and relatives told them they felt safe at the home, that they were treated with kindness and were given the chance to provide feedback. Inspectors added that medicines were administered by trained and competent staff and medicines were ordered, stored and disposed of safely.

St Matthews Healthcare, the company in charge of the care home, says residents’ well-being is the priority and that they will work with CQC to improve the provision.

A spokesperson for the home said: “We welcome the feedback from the latest CQC report following their recent inspection.

“The new Kingsthorpe Grange management team is working closely with the CQC team to ensure our service provision continues to improve and is appropriately evidenced.

“Our residents’ well-being remains our priority and we are committed to addressing the improvements detailed in the report.

“As part of driving and sustaining service improvements at Kingsthorpe Grange we are embedding robust processes and improving systems to help to ensure the care we offer exceeds the standards required.”

The home was last rated good in 2019.

Read the full report on the CQC website here.