Northampton care home criticised by watchdog after the service is found to be unsafe

Southfields House has been rated as 'requires improvement' by the CQC in a report published last month.

The CQC has carried out a comprehensive one-day inspection at Southfields House in Farmhill Road back in September after the watchdog had received a number of concerns over the management of medicine and how the service was being operated.

The report found breaches of four regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

It said: 'The breaches we identified were in relation to medicines management, risk assessing, nutritional monitoring and support, safeguarding people against abuse and in relation to how the service was being run.'

The report added that medicines were not being safely stored.

'We found very high temperatures in rooms where medicines were being stored and some fridge temperatures, which had been taken and recorded indicated that medicines had not been stored safely.

'We found several days where room and fridge temperatures had not been taken or recorded. When we asked what action had been taken as a result of the high temperature readings recorded, we were told that no action had been taken.

'We found two people's medicines were not being kept at a safe temperature at the time of our inspection. There were not adequate systems in place to store medicines safely.'

The three inspectors also raised concerns over the safety of the administration of medicines, after one person was given different drug doses on different days, with no explanation.

The report said the service 'requires improvement' in being well-led, responsive, effective and safe, but the service was rated 'good' in caring for residents.

'Staff knew the people they cared for well and understood how to deliver care, which maintained people's dignity and respected their privacy,' the report added.

A spokesman for Northamptonshire County Council, which owns Olympus Care Services, said: “We are pleased to see that the inspectors recognise our work to provide a caring, compassionate environment for residents, and that staff are committed to supporting residents to be as independent and active as they are able to be.

“The inspection team also recognised the support offered to staff by the manager and that she works hard to make sure the views of both staff and residents are heard.

“We had some concerns about the report which showed inconsistencies, but all of the areas raised were known to us and have been or are in the process of being addressed.”