The Moorings Care Home in Cowes has been placed into special measures after inspectors uncovered a catalogue of failings, including residents being left in wet clothing, spending weeks with virtually no social interaction, and living in rooms smelling strongly of urine.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated The Moorings as inadequate following an inspection in June, identifying 11 breaches of regulations and serving the provider with 2 warning notices.
The home, which provides residential care for older people, is now in special measures and will be closely monitored while urgent improvements are made.
Inspectors found repeated failures to treat residents with dignity and respect.
One resident was left sitting in wet clothing for around 10 minutes after staff had been alerted, while another was found asleep at a dining table with their clothing exposing them without staff noticing.
Inspectors also found evidence of staff carrying out personal care without first waking residents or explaining what they were doing.
Concerns were also raised over the lack of meaningful activities available to those living at the home. A review of 6 weeks’ worth of activity records found 3 residents had no recorded social activity whatsoever, while another had just 5 minutes of interaction logged during the entire period.
Instead, inspectors said people spent most of their time watching television, remaining in their bedrooms or receiving personal care, with very little meaningful engagement or time outdoors.
Inspectors were also forced to intervene after discovering one resident’s bedroom smelled strongly of urine, requesting the individual be moved to a clean room.
The CQC report says staff were not cleaning moving and handling equipment between uses, had left out-of-date food in storage and were not ensuring bedding was cleaned promptly.
Inspectors also questioned the accuracy of care records after discovering the home’s only bath had been out of use for months. Despite this, records showed one resident had supposedly received 24 baths during that time.
The inspection also uncovered serious failures in how incidents and safeguarding concerns were managed.
The CQC found safeguarding incidents were not always reported, notifiable events were not shared with the regulator and accident reporting was inconsistent.
In one case, managers acknowledged a resident had been found on a crash mat ‘nearly every other day’, yet these incidents had not been recorded because staff did not recognise them as reportable events.
Inspectors also found evidence of a blame culture within the home, raising concerns that staff may have felt unable to report issues which could improve residents’ care.
Neil Cox, CQC’s Deputy Director for Adult Social Care in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, has said:
“What we found at The Moorings was deeply concerning. The issues we identified were widespread and serious, and they mirrored historic failings leaders were already aware of.
“Despite a change of ownership, numerous engagement meetings with CQC, and reports detailing the issues for improvement under the previous owner, leaders hadn’t used these resources to provide people living there with the standard of care they deserve.”
“We also saw examples of people not being treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. One person remained in wet clothing for around 10 minutes after staff had been told about it.
“Another person was found asleep at a dining table with their clothing exposing them, and staff hadn’t noticed. One relative told us they didn’t feel confident their loved one was safe and said they wouldn’t recommend the home.
“These failings point to serious problems with leadership. Risks that were obvious and could have been prevented weren’t identified or acted on.
“The people living at The Moorings deserved much better care, especially in a place they called home.
“We’ve placed the service into special measures and will continue to monitor it closely to make sure people are safe whilst urgent and lasting improvements are made.”
The CQC rated The Moorings Care Home inadequate in all 5 inspection categories – safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.
Special measures involve enhanced monitoring by the regulator and a structured timeframe for improvements. If sufficient progress is not made, the CQC can take further enforcement action.
