Swiss Cottage care home in Leighton Buzzard rated 'Inadequate' for second year in a row

A Leighton Buzzard care home has been slammed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and rated Inadequate for the second year in a row.

Swiss Cottage, Plantation Road, was previously rated in May 2021, when the report detailed that, among other failings, two people with advanced dementia had left the home and gone missing.

At the time, Roseberry Care Centres stated that it would "continue to work tirelessly" to improve standards, but one year later it remains 'Inadequate' overall.

Concerns reported include details of a patient rolling out of bed, and medicine not being administered correctly, resulting in a patient being sedated.

Roseberry Care Centres says it will "continue to work together with the local authorities and the CQC", to ensure "the best care possible."

Analysing safeguarding, the report states: "One person had rolled out of bed and experienced an injury. Staff knew this person's needs when they were in bed had changed, but there was no action taken and a new plan was not put in place to manage this risk, before this injury.

"Another person had sustained an injury due to how they were getting into their bed. Staff were aware of this risk, but there was no assessment of this risk and no plan put in place to reduce this risk."

It continued: "One person had received an 'as required' medicine to manage distress. Nursing staff had administered the highest prescribed volume of this medicine the first time this person had it. Which had resulted in this person being sedated."

It also noted that the provider was not always ensuring safe recruitment procedures were taking place.

While the 'Is the service safe?' category was deemed Inadequate, 'Is the service effective?', 'Is the service caring?', and 'Is the service responsive?' were graded as Requires Improvement.

'Is the service well-led?' was also rated Inadequate.

However, the report states: "Since the last inspection we found improvements had been made, in relation to managing people's specialist food needs, skin and pressure care, and responding to those people who may have left the home in an unsafe way.

"Staff said communication had improved. Most staff were motivated to want to improve people's experiences of living at the home, to give them enjoyment and pleasure whilst living at the home."

A spokesman for Roseberry Care Centres said: "Swiss Cottage care home has been taking the necessary actions to address the issues outlined by the CQC following its unsatisfactory inspection of the home.

"It responded immediately to the inspection and has put in place a robust action plan to address the concerns to ensure the wellbeing of residents.

"The home has also received additional support through the appointment of an experienced manager to lead improvement and to drive the action plan forward.

"We will continue to work tirelessly to deliver the standards of well-being and quality of care we pride ourselves on, together with the local authorities and the CQC, to ensure our residents are receiving the best care possible."

The CQC states: "We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety.

"We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect."