Northamptonshire Nursing Home Closed By Watchdog
A private nursing home has been closed down by a social care watchdog after three snap inspections found residents were being “put at serious risk”.
The Commission for Social Care Inspection has gained a court order to cancel the registration of Southfield Care Homes, Brackley, Northamptonshire.
The commission said the inspections found a “poor standard of care” and a low level of staff.
No-one from Southfield Care Homes was available for comment.
The commission said: “Inspectors were seriously concerned about the low number of staff available and their ability to meet the needs – including medication management – of the people living there.”
‘Poor standards’
The watchdog is working with Northamptonshire County Council and Northamptonshire Teaching Primary Care Trust (PCT) to ensure the long-term care needs of the residents.
In the meantime the council and the PCT have put nursing and care staff into the home to support staff.
The commission’s regional director for the east, Norwyn Cole, said: “We have had concerns for some time about the poor standards of care at Southfield.
“Despite being given every opportunity, the owner has failed to make the improvements necessary to meet national standards and to provide adequately for the needs of the residents.
“We have carried out a series of unannounced inspections at the home during the course of this year.
Post mortems
“Matters came to a head last week when our inspectors decided that the safety and welfare of the people living there was being put at serious risk.”
It has also been revealed that post-mortem tests have been carried out on two terminally-ill patients who recently died.
A Northamptonshire County Council spokesman said: “We can confirm the death of two terminally-ill residents who had been receiving nursing home care at Southfield Care Homes.
“During safeguarding investigations such as this, it is common-place and routine for post-mortems to be carried out to establish the cause of death. This has already taken place.
“We are now working with Northamptonshire Teaching PCT to address the health and care needs of all the residents at the home in both the immediate and long term.
“The needs of each resident have been assessed and plans for their care and health needs have been made.
“Residents are being relocated to appropriate accommodation and many have now moved.
“As part of the routine procedures for safeguarding vulnerable adults, used when there is a concern about the quality of care, Northamptonshire Police, together with the commission and other agencies, are examining in more detail the information that is available about the quality of care that was provided.”
