CQC ISSUES DAMNING RATING FOR COWES’ THE MOORING’S RETIREMENT HOME

Concerns raised about the quality of care being provided to those at The Moorings, run by The Moorings Care Limited, sparked the watchdog to make a visit to the Egypt Hill home.

Inspectors found a significant deterioration in care, and the service was in breach of 9 regulations. These related to person-centred care, the need for consent, safe care and treatment, safeguarding, premises and equipment, good management of the service, staffing, fit and proper persons and failure to notify CQC about incidents that affect the health, safety and welfare of people who use the service.

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CQC has taken enforcement action by serving 4 warning notices to The Moorings Retirement Home, highlighting where CQC expects to see an action plan on how they will make rapid and widespread improvements.

The Moorings Retirement Home has now been rated as inadequate for being safe, effective, caring and well-led. How responsive has dropped from good to requires improvement.

CQC has also placed the service into special measures, which involves close monitoring to ensure people are safe while they make improvements. Special measures also provides a structured timeframe so services understand when they need to make improvements by, and what action CQC will take if this doesn’t happen.

Neil Cox, CQC’s deputy director for Isle of Wight, has said:

“Following our inspection of The Moorings Retirement Home, we found leadership failures had allowed poor practices to go unchallenged, placing people at risk and undermining their dignity and independence. Staff weren’t given the right direction, systems, or support to make sure care was safe or person-centred.

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“Leaders failed to identify and report safeguarding incidents to the local authority and the CQC, even where the threshold for a referral had clearly been met. This meant risks to people’s safety weren’t properly addressed and other organisations couldn’t intervene when needed.

“People weren’t always given meaningful choice over their daily lives. We were concerned to hear reports of residents being woken as early as 5am, and during two early morning visits, we found several people already up in lounges before 6am. Although managers assured us this practice would stop after our first visit, we found it was still happening almost two weeks later.

“We also weren’t assured that people’s basic hygiene needs were always met. While some residents appeared well cared for, others had long, dirty nails, were unshaven, or wore soiled clothing. This isn’t acceptable in a place people call home.

“When people became unwell or went to hospital, relatives weren’t always informed in a timely way. We heard examples of family members only finding out days later that their loved one had been admitted to hospital. This meant people missed the chance to have the comfort and support of relatives during what could have been frightening experiences.

“The service didn’t always give people prescribed pain relief when they needed it. For example, a person with a pressure injury could have received 104 pain relief doses over a set period but was given only nine. Inspectors had to request pain relief be administered to this resident during the inspection.

“We’ve told leaders at The Moorings Retirement Home where they must make immediate and significant improvements, and we’re monitoring them closely to keep people safe while this happens.”

What inspectors found: 

• Neglect of care – one resident with a painful hand contracture left without proper treatment, pain relief or referrals for 9 months until inspectors intervened.

• Pain relief withheld – a resident prescribed 104 doses only received 9 despite being in pain.

• Residents woken at 05:00 against their wishes; some only had 1 bath or shower in nearly 2 months.

• Call bells unanswered for long periods, leaving residents in pain or distress.

• At least 5 cases of restraint, including staff removing a walking stick from a resident at high risk of falls.

• Fire safety failings – fire doors wedged open, drills not evidenced, training inadequate.

• Legionella risks not managed, plus unsafe handling of hazardous cleaning chemicals.

• Dirty and unsafe environment – constant smell of urine, soiled wheelchairs and slings, exposed foam in furniture.

• Disrespectful language by staff, including references to residents “smelling so bad because of wet pad and poo”.

• Unsafe moving and handling – inspectors halted a hoisting procedure after seeing poor practice that caused distress.

• Residents left without glasses or hearing aids, despite care plans stating they were essential.

• Overseas staff exploited – made to work 12-hour shifts for 7 days straight without a day off.

• Management failed to report safeguarding incidents or notify the CQC of serious events, breaching legal duties.