WILTSHIRE Heights Care Home in Bradford on Avon has been deemed ‘inadequate’ and placed under special measures after an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which published a report last week.

The CQC report, published on October 15, outlined how the Porthaven care home in Cottle Avenue was ‘poor’ in regards to record keeping and communication, and staff practice towards residents ‘was not safe’.

On Monday, October 19, Wiltshire Council’s contracts officer, Debbie Griffin, conducted a review of the site as well as assessing the care home’s action plan to rectify the CQC’s concerns.

The council’s Quality Assurance Team have been given the CQC report and the warning notice.

The care home has until November 14 to comply with the HSCA Regulations 2014 Safe Care and treatment guidelines – failure to do so may result in further action being enacted by the CQC.

Following the outcome of the inspection report, a Wiltshire Council spokesperson said: “Our team has offered support to the care home. We will continue to assist where required to help them make the required improvements as quickly as possible.”

Wiltshire Heights does not have a contract with Wiltshire Council, so there is not a committed agreement to make placements at the home. Currently the council is not directly funding any residents.

Last Friday, Home Manager of Wiltshire Heights, Matt Berry, said: “We are baffled by the CQC rating which is entirely inconsistent with the positive views of the care given at the home by our residents, families and all other local care agencies.

“Any healthcare professional who has visited the home, or reads the report, will realise the rating is incorrect.

“The staff work extremely hard to provide the best standards of care to our residents, and they treat everyone with dignity and respect.

“The care, safety and well-being of our residents are always our primary concern, and we have asked CQC to review its rating at the earliest opportunity.”

After the council’s inspection on October 19, Mr Berry was offered to provide further comment but declined to add any additional thoughts.

In the CQC’s five point checklist, the surprise inspections which took place on August 7 and 10, found that the home was ‘inadequate’ for the service’s safety, effectiveness, regarding the competency of staff, its responsiveness and the service being well-led.

The only category that did not get an ‘inadequate’ rating related to the service being caring – for which it registered a ‘requires improvement’ due to care records not always being securely locked away.

Examples detailed in the report said staff were inadequately trained in taking patients’ blood or handling a syringe and in one instance a duty nurse told the inspector that a patient had run out of medicine as the staff member who usually dealt with this was on holiday.

The home currently houses 38 adults, some of whom suffer from dementia, and will be inspected again within six months.