Truro autism care home placed in special measures for not being safe enough

A care home as it was placed in special measures after it was found to be understaffed and insufficiently secure. The Nak Center at Sundial House received the worst possible rating from Cary Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors following an unannounced visit last November.

In their report published in February, CQC inspectors found the Nak Center to be below standards in terms of safeguarding and leadership, leading to the overall ‘inadequate’ rating. The findings mean the care home – which was previously rated ‘good’ – has been downgraded and told to improve significantly over the coming months while the CQC keeps the service under review.

In their report, CQC inspectors said: “If the provider has not made sufficient improvement within this time frame and there is still an inadequate rating for any key question or overall assessment, we will take action in accordance with our enforcement procedures. means we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will usually result in the cancellation of the registration or changes to the conditions of the registration.”

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The Nak Center is a family-run care home in its own garden in Coosebean, on the outskirts of Truro, looking after people with autism and physical and learning disabilities. While CQC inspectors found some positives, including good efficiency and good service from responsive and attentive staff, they also found that crucial staffing issues were holding the service back, with the management team not understanding enough safeguarding issues.

The report said: “The registered provider did not have effective safeguards in place. The registered provider has not demonstrated a clear understanding of its responsibilities to report safeguarding concerns. Staff had limited understanding of what they needed to do to ensure people were protected from risk of harm or abuse.

“People were not always supported by enough service staff, which placed restrictions on their daily lives. Staff supported people to have some choice and control in their everyday lives. Their ability to do so was hampered by a lack of service personnel, which meant people. they weren’t always able to access the community or take part in activities they enjoyed.”

Inspectors said the long-standing business was stuck in its ways, leading to a damaging closed culture.

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The report added: “The service did not have enough suitably qualified staff to meet people’s needs. The service was isolated and there was a risk of developing a closed culture. The service had fixed routines that were not flexible, for example drinking and meal times. This was due to the way the service was organized and was perpetuated by the lack of available staff within the service.

“Staffing levels impacted on the availability of the registered provider to ensure that management tasks were met. Staff feedback and review of care records and documentation highlighted that there was poor oversight of the service, which affected aspects of service operations. Audits to oversee the service were not up to date and therefore ineffective in identifying areas for improvement.

“Staff team meetings and staff supervision did not take place, which meant opportunities were missed for staff and managers to discuss any issues or proposed changes within the service. The registered provider has not been open and transparent with people and relatives and commissioners about recent concerns within the service. The lack of opportunity for stakeholders to provide feedback or raise concerns has increased the risk of a closed culture developing.”

It was not all negative for the Nak Centre, with CQC inspectors noting that infection control procedures and measures were in place to protect people from the infection control risks associated with Covid, people live in a safe and well maintained environment while that staff also supported people with their medicines and worked with health professionals to achieve good health outcomes.”

We have asked the Nak Center for comment on the CQC’s findings and how it plans to make the necessary improvements.