Care home in Mablethorpe urged to compile action plan after critical inspection

The Fitzwilliam Care Centre, in the heart of town on Centenary Close, is a residential home for up to 62 adults of all ages living with dementia, mental health conditions and physical disabilities.

When it opened two years ago, it was described as a high-quality, luxurious home providing an excellent standard of care and respite.

However, inspectors from the health watchdog, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), were not impressed with many aspects of the Fitzwilliam centre when they reviewed it in May.

The inspectors’ report has now been published, awarding a rating of ‘Requires Improvement’ and determining that the home was “in breach of the legal regulations relating to ensuring the environment, care and staffing were safely managed”.

It said: “While residents expressed general satisfaction with their care and treatment, our assessment found elements did not meet the expected standards and this placed them at risk of avoidable harm.”

The CQC revealed that its review was “prompted by risks we were made aware of” in relation to quality of care and good governance.

And the inspectors discovered that management changes had resulted in “instability” and a lack of “effective oversight”.

There was no registered manager, the acting manager left during the inspection and a new manager was yet to be registered with the CQC.

The inspectors also found that while “the facilities and equipment met residents’ needs and were clean and well maintained”, the building “was being reviewed for structural concerns and was not designed or decorated in ways that supported people with dementia”.

The report said residents “were not always protected and kept safe”. Risks were not always identified or managed safely, and staff did not manage medicines well.

On the plus side, the CQC inspectors said they “observed that residents were treated with kindness by staff”, who interacted positively and sensitively, preserving privacy and dignity.

Residents also had enough to eat and drink and were supported to stay healthy, with access to health professionals.

However, “there were not always enough staff with the right skills, qualifications and experience available at busy times, including mornings and weekends, which resulted in delays to care needs”.

Residents were positive overall about the quality of their care, the inspectors found. But there was “mixed feedback about whether they felt safe”, with stories disclosed of people with dementia, “confused about where they were”, wandering into the bedrooms of other residents.

The home provided some activities to keep residents physically and mentally active, but most “were distressed that they were unable to go outside and into the local community”.

Residents and relatives felt they “were not fully involved in the planning of their care”. And some said they felt they couldn’t complain for fear of repercussions.

The CQC report named the provider of the Fitzwilliam home as Mablethorpe Care Ltd, based in Sheffield. However, the home’s website is listed as Bluebrick Healthcare, of Louth.

We approached both companies and also the home itself for their view on the inspection’s findings. However, they declined to comment.

The inspectors’ report added: “The management team is working with local authority professionals to make improvements and develop a better understanding of what good are looks like.”

The home has been lavished with glowing praise from relatives on the Carehome.co.uk website, where it has achieved a score of 9.8 out of ten based on 15 reviews over the last two years.