Two Rivers Care Home has been placed in special measures by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), reports Simon Allin, Local Democracy Reporter

Two Rivers Care Home, Finchley (credit Google)

A Finchley care home has been placed in special measures after inspectors uncovered a series of safety breaches.

Two Rivers Care Home, in Long Lane, has had its rating dropped from ‘good’ to ‘inadequate’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) watchdog.

It comes after an inspection in August and September that was partly triggered by an incident in which a person in the service was seriously injured.

In a report published on Wednesday (25th), the CQC revealed people living in the home, which cares for people with learning disabilities and mental health conditions, “were not safe and were at risk of avoidable harm”.

Inspectors found that one person had experienced “degrading treatment” and suffered an injury.

Faecal matter was found on a made bed, while some people’s incontinence products had been taken out of their packaging and exposed near open windows.

The CQC found a resident who was at risk of choking and needed a specialist diet “was being supported to eat at pace and in an unsafe way on two occasions by staff”.

It said staff were not knowledgeable about specialist diets for some residents who were at risk of choking and did not have access to their current guidelines from food specialists.

The report adds that staff were seen to roughly wipe people’s mouths after mealtimes in communal spaces, and toilet times were announced in front of others.

The care watchdog warned that “blanket routines” were in place around bedtimes and meal choices, meaning people were experiencing restrictions in their day-to-day lives.

It also found CCTV cameras across the home were running 24 hours a day, including in bedrooms and at times when staff were supporting people with personal care.

When inspectors found poor staff practice they did not believe this was because they were being intentionally unkind, blaming instead a “lack of training and support” from managers, [the] registered manager and the provider.

The home, which is run by Suncare Recovery Limited, has been placed in special measures and will be reinspected within six months. If improvements are not sufficient and there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, the CQC will then begin to take action to prevent the service from operating.

Rebecca Bauers, the CQC’s director for people with a learning disability and autistic people, said a culture had been allowed to develop that was “centred on routines and convenience instead of the people living in the service”.

She added: “Leaders hadn’t established a culture of learning so staff weren’t supported to continuously improve the service.”

Rachel said the provider had “taken action quickly” to begin addressing the CQC’s concerns but warned the watchdog would not hesitate to take further action if it fails to make sufficient improvements.

Suncare Recovery Limited said in a statement: “We have had some internal difficulties to overcome as well as struggling with staffing issues following Covid over the past two to three years. We have accepted the CQC’s judgement that we have a lot of improvements to make.

“We are working with Barnet Council and the CQC to implement a comprehensive action plan over the coming months so that our clients get the quality of care that they deserve and that we used to consistently provide.

“The plan covers, amongst other things, making sure our clients have more choice, getting a new registered manager appointed and a stronger management team, improving our training, improving our care and risk documentation, moving to a more person-centred model, removing unnecessary CCTV, and communicating much quicker and better with families, councils and regulators.

“We had a ‘good’ rating ever since we set up in 2008 and we’re determined to get back to that.”

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else. £84 annual supporters get a print copy by post and a digital copy of each month's before anyone else.