A RUNCORN nursing home has been ordered to improve after putting the safety of vulnerable residents at risk.

Healthcare watchdog inspectors declared that Beechcroft Nursing and Residential Home requires improvement in all five areas of its service.

In a critical report, Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors said: “We identified breaches of the relevant regulations in respect of safe care and treatment, dignity and respect and good governance.

“The service was not completely safe and was not fully caring.

“The recording and investigation of complaints was not consistent and the service was not well led.”

Beechcroft on Lapwing Grove in Palacefields, managed by HC-One Limited, was found to have a catalogue of shortfalls.

Carers said they felt the home was ‘short staffed’.

A staff member told inspectors: “We could do with more, we have a lot of high dependency residents.”

One resident said: “Sometimes you have to wait for the buzzer, like last night, the sheet was wet but I had to wait for them to give out the pills and do the tea before I got a new cover.”

Staff were criticised for failing to treat residents with dignity.

The report stated: “When talking with one of the inspectors, two staff referred to people who required assistance with feeding as ‘feeders’.

“This was within earshot of people who used the service and is disrespectful.

“One of these staff made a further derogatory remark about a person who used the service to the inspector.

“We also noted from complaints records that the manager had received three complaints the previous year about the attitude of certain members of staff.”

Inspectors expressed concern over the way time critical medication was administered.

One resident was given their lunchtime dose of medicine 40 minutes late.

One staff member had signed to confirm she had given drugs before they had been taken.

There was a risk of one resident choking because their drinks had not been thickened to the right consistency.

One family member complained that her relative had been missed out for food twice at teatime. A relative had to go into the dining room to request a meal.

Care files were found to be bulky and contained old information which made it harder for staff to access the most up to date records.

Four accidents had occurred over two weeks prior to a falls audit being carried out but had not been investigated.

The garden was unsafe because paths were uneven, had moss growing on them and were slippy.

Audits for improvement had been identified but not implemented.

Halton Council had informed the CQC of concerns about the service before the inspection was carried out.

Council officers had put the home on an improvement plan and suspended placements.

A project manager had been appointed to oversee the process and a turnaround manager has been recruited to offer further help and support.

An ongoing action plan is in place which will be regularly updated until the issues are addressed.

Inspectors concluded: “Whilst many of the people spoken with told us that they were well cared for and they were happy in the home, we found that people could be at risk because there had been a lack of effective quality assurance.”