A CARE home in Bromsgrove has been rated inadequate by the health and social care watchdog and placed in special measures.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected the Meadows Nursing Home in February and found that the provider had "failed to ensure the environment was safe for people to live in."

The nursing home, on Birmingham Road, which was run by Southern CC Limited, provides accommodation and personal care to older people, some of whom are living with dementia.

The inspection was carried out in part due to concerns raised with CQC around the management and safety of the service.

Since the inspection took place seven months ago, Cardinal Healthcare has become the new manager of the home. They said they "deeply regret the shortcomings identified and remain fully committed to significant improvement."

Craig Howarth, CQC deputy director of operations in the Midlands, said: “When we inspected The Meadows Nursing Home, we were disappointed to find poor management and leadership across the home, as well as inadequate systems to keep people safe.

"Some issues we found at the last inspection, hadn’t been addressed little action had been taken to make improvements we told them to, to make it a safe place for people to live.

“We found not everyone felt safe at the home and not all staff had safeguarding training. While the manager responded to safeguarding concerns we found during our visit, the safeguarding policy wasn’t always followed, and the provider didn’t always notify the CQC and the local authority when incidents occurred. For example, the provider didn’t inform us about people’s unexplained bruising and skin damage which could put people at risk of further harm.

"The Meadows had failed to make the environment safe for people to live in as we saw chemicals weren’t always locked away and prescribed creams weren’t stored safely. We also found large items of furniture hadn’t been secured to walls to prevent them accidently tipping over and hot surfaces weren’t covered. This put people, particularly those with dementia who can become easily confused, at risk of avoidable harm.

“We couldn’t be sure people were receiving their medicines safely as we found stock discrepancies and medicine charts weren’t fully completed. Also, leaders hadn’t put care plans in place for people taking medicines such as antibiotics and there wasn’t enough guidance for staff when administering medicines when required, such as pain medication.

“It was concerning that staff didn’t always take people’s individual preferences into account. Someone had asked to only have female staff support them, but this didn’t always happen. Another person told us they’d stopped going to the communal areas because staff always took too long to take them to the toilet, and they were worried about their dignity. Staff also didn’t always treat people with compassion and kindness.

As well as placing the service in special measures, the CQC has also issued two warning notices, to focus the service’s attention on the areas where immediate action needs to be taken.

The watchdog is also keeping the home under close review and will continue to monitor to check sufficient improvements are being made.

They said further action will be taken if rapid and widespread improvements are not carried out.

A spokesperson for Cardinal Healthcare said: "The inspection took place nearly seven months ago. Since then, Cardinal Healthcare, the new Home Manager, and the dedicated team at The Meadows have been working tirelessly to transform the care within our home.

"We are sorry we have got things wrong; however, we are determined to make things right. We deeply regret the shortcomings identified and remain fully committed to significant improvement.

"While we cannot change what has happened, we are committed to developing a safe, positive, and supportive home for our residents.

"We can’t change the past, but we can shape the future".