Enham Trust disability charity care homes rated ‘inadequate’ by Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Enham Trust care home services in Enham Alamein, near Andover, inadequate overall, following an inspection in February.

Enham Care Homes provides personal care for up to 60 people who may be living with a learning or physical disability, or both. The service operates three homes, Michael House, William House and Elizabeth House. Each house has accessible facilities and can accommodate up to 20 people in flat or bedsit style accommodation. At the time of the inspection, 14 people were living in Michael House, 13 were living in William House and 14 people were in Elizabeth House.

The care home site on Macallum Road, Enham Alamein

CQC carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of the service due to concerns received about how people were being supported to make decisions, as well as concerns about the environment and leadership within the service.

Following the inspection, the overall rating for the service dropped from requires improvement to inadequate.

Reacting to the announcement, Enham Trust’s Interim CEO, Simon Williams, thanked the CQC for its inspection and apologised that measures put in place previously have ‘not gone far enough’ towards improvement.

SEE ALSO: Enham Trust given 'requires improvement' rating by Care Quality Commission

The report states that the trust’s ratings for being safe and well-led also dropped from requires improvement to inadequate. The rating for being effective and caring remain at requires improvement, while the rating for being responsive to people’s needs dropped from good to requires improvement.

The service is now in special measures which means it will be kept under review, both by CQC and the local authority safeguarding team, and re-inspected to check sufficient improvements have been made.

At the time of the inspection Enham Trust was in a process of consultation and transition to change the current service model from a registered care home to a supported living service.

Rebecca Bauers, CQC’s head of inspection for adult social care, said “When we inspected Enham Trust, we found the staff were caring and did their best to promote people’s individuality.

“However, there were widespread and significant shortfalls in the leadership of the service. Senior staff weren’t clear about their roles and responsibilities in relation to the overall quality of care delivered, risk management, or their regulatory responsibilities.

“The manager told us they were working on a quality improvement plan, yet we found the buildings and equipment were poorly maintained, putting people at significant risk of physical and emotional harm.”

SEE ALSO: Refurb work begins at Enham Trust after £25k TVBC grant

She continued: “Maintenance records described broken lifts, hoists, toilets, washing machines and tumble dryers, leaking toilets, broken heating and water coming out of the pipes in a wall, yet there was no indication anything had been done to address these issues. Staff said they had reported a leak in one of the laundry rooms a number of times, but water was still dripping from the ceiling during our inspection.

“While we were on site, we heard a loud bang and someone saying, ‘Oh God, are you okay?’ When we checked to see what had happened, we found a member of staff lying on the floor after they tripped over a metal bar in a doorway which hadn’t been properly secured to the floor.

“At the time of our inspection, Enham Trust was transitioning from a registered care home to a supported living service. Relatives and the people living there told us communication regarding the change had been poor, and people were left feeling worried about what was happening.

“There were no records of people agreeing to move home or agreeing to the new model of care, which meant they weren’t offered the chance to make their own decisions regarding their care. In addition, the provider hadn’t reviewed people’s care needs to assess the number of staff needed in a supported living service. One person told us, ‘they are more worried about what’s happening with the supported living project, they have forgotten about what is important to us.”

The Enham Trust celebrated 100 years in 2021

CQC has now told the provider to send a report outlining what action they will take to address the concerns raised.

Ms Bauers said: “We will review this and continue to monitor the service closely to ensure the improvements are made and fully embedded alongside other local health and social care partners.

“If we find no improvements have been made when we return we will not hesitate to take action.”

Inspectors found that the care offered was not always tailored to the individuals, there was a lack of coherent community and there were too few staff to meet people’s needs.

They added that systems in place were not always followed, communication was not up to scratch internally or with service users, and complaints were not always dealt with in a timely manner.

However, inspectors also highlighted that staff were caring and compassionate, they respected people’s dignity and independence and delivered care and support in line with best practice guidelines, including shielding residents from risk of abuse, offering well-balanced meals, and ensuring external medical appointments were attended.

Safe recruitment practices were followed with regular supervision and training provided, staff were provided sufficient learning and development opportunities including regular supervision with their manager, and documents were in palace that offered helpful information to staff members.

Speaking after the results were published on Tuesday (July 5), Enham Trust’s Interim CEO, Simon Williams said: “Enham Trust is sorry our care home services did not meet the standards we strive to achieve, and both the residents of Michael/Elizabeth & William Houses and their loved ones deserve. Our residents are at the heart of the decisions we make, and work has already started at pace to address the issues raised in the report.

“We accept that the measures which were put in place since the last CQC report, published in May 2020, did not go far enough. Having been given advance sight of the latest report by the CQC, we have already started a comprehensive review to address the findings and have taken immediate steps.”

SEE ALSO: Enham Trust CEO discusses 100 years of disability support

These include: the development of an action plan; continuing with plans of moving towards a supported living model across our residential care services , which offers more personalised plans for each resident; and supporting residents who do not wish to move to this type of model to find suitable alternative care facilities.

Mr Williams continued: “We recognise that this rating will cause concern and anxiety among our residents, as well as family and friends. In the coming days and weeks, we will be meeting with them to outline our actions and will work closely with them to ensure we better support their needs going forwards. It should be noted that our Care and Support at Home services are not included in this latest report, and that we retain our ‘Good’ rating from CQC in this area.

“Our Senior Leadership and Care and Support Teams are in place to support our customers with any queries and to keep them updated on our progress. We encourage any customers with questions about this report to get in touch on 01264 345800 or by emailing info@enhamtrust.org.uk.

“We will work closely with the CQC and local authorities and wish to thank all those involved in the inspection process.

You can read the full report at: cqc.org.uk/location/1-119648069.

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