Warrington care home residents 'at risk of dehydration'

Residents at a Warrington care home were "at risk of dehydration and malnutrition", a report found.

Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors said staff at Birch Court lacked basic knowledge and skills on managing challenging behaviour.

Some residents were put in a locked, quiet room and, because staff failed to grasp the proper use of safeguards, "human rights were not protected."

The home said it had suspended admissions and made improvements.

The care home, run by private health firm Bupa, provides nursing, convalescence, palliative and respite care, as well as nursing or residential care for those with dementia.

The CQC report, external, based on an inspection in August, identified a number of breaches in safe care and treatment and staff training.

It said the service was "not effective" because staff did not have a thorough understanding of the Deprivation of Liberties Safeguards (DoLS), resulting in people's human rights "not being protected."

DoLS ensure when someone is deprived of their liberty, decisions are made in their best interests.

"Staff lacked basic knowledge and skills on the management of challenging behaviour and medication was not always managed safely," the CQC found.

"Monitoring of food and fluid intake was ineffective which meant vulnerable people were at risk of dehydration and malnutrition," it said.

Four people nursed in beds did not have access to a nurse call alarm as it was either missing or out of reach.

Relatives described care staff as "kind and caring" and "overall they were satisfied with the standard of care provided."

A previous inspection in June rated it as "good."

Inspectors also identified that there was a risk of medicines being given unnecessarily.

A patient prescribed medicine for extreme agitation was given it consistently for 23 days "even when there was no evidence of extreme agitation or aggression," the report said.

Inspectors were also told by family members they were prevented from taking their loved one on a day trip.

The house manager said it had come about as a result of "a misunderstanding of how the person's deprivation of liberty safeguards were applied and a lack of information in the person's care plan."

Inspectors found there was no care plan and care staff told them they did not read care plans.

The CQC made recommendations to ensure medication is managed, how care records are kept and that treatment is appropriate to meet the needs of residents.

Earlier this month, Warrington Borough Council officials stopped referring patients to the care home amid concerns that basic needs of residents were not being met.

A spokesman for Birch Court said: "We are absolutely committed to making the required changes highlighted in the recent CQC report, which are isolated to one unit.

"We have acted immediately to ensure we meet the high standards of care that we expect - putting additional training in place for staff, reviewing our medication management process and all residents' care plans."