Regulators will continue to monitor Scorton care home

A CARE home treating people with dementia will continue to be monitored by regulators after an inspection still found failings.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) recently re-inspected the Archery-Bower suites at Abbey Care Village, in Scorton, near Richmond , North Yorkshire, after what it described as “whistle-blowing concerns” were bought to its attention.

The inspector’s overall judgement was that Archery-Bower was still not meeting one or more essential standards and that action was needed.

In a previous visit, the Government’s health and social care regulator warned owner Lifestyle (Abbey Care) that it must overhaul standards or face serious consequences.

An unannounced visit was made to the home, which cares for up to 60 people with dementia, to follow up a previous report that found serious failings relating to patient care and management.

It found the home had managed to improve in some areas, but was still failing in others.

During the inspection, which took place overnight and early morning, the inspector took a detailed look at records and observed night-time and morning care. It was found residents were not always being given adequate nutrition.

Concerns about the home’s failure to maintain residents’ dignity or give them meaningful activities had been addressed.

However, it was found that staff had not always acted in line with legal requirements before treating or caring for residents who did not have the capacity to consent.

While many improvements had been made in protecting residents from harm and to provide a clean environment, there was not an effective system in place to monitor quality of service.

The home was given a compliance action order by the CQC, which means it must send an action plan detailing how it will rectify the failings.

The commission said further unannounced inspections would take place until it was satisfied improvements had been made.

A spokesman for Lifestyle (Abbey Care) said: “I am delighted by the progress that we are making and we are very much working with our stakeholders to make sure we continue to provide quality services for the residents.

“It is about sustaining all the improvements and going forward. I think I have a team in place now that will help me do that.”