Concerns by health regulators over ‘safety risks’ at Horsham care home

The home - The Grange at Rapkyns Care Centre in Broadbridge Heath - has now been rated ‘inadequate’ for the second time following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

In a report just out, the commission said ‘people had not been protected from the risk of abuse or neglect.’

The home, which looks after people with learning and physical disabilities, is run by Sussex Health Care which is currently at the centre of a police investigation following the deaths of 13 people at nine of its homes. However Sussex Police have since closed their investigation into two of those who died.

In their latest report, the health regulators said they identified concerns relating to risks around respiratory care, feeding tubes, epilepsy, constipation, monitoring people’s health, skin care, choking and unexplained injuries at Rapkyns.

They said: “Staff had not always reported safeguarding concerns when they had witnessed incidents happen, such as people not receiving the correct care.”

They said there was a lack of clinical oversight of nurses from the management and that medicines were not consistently managed safely.

“Lessons had not been learned consistently. There had been a large number of injuries to people’s hands, fingers, feet and toes and these had not been picked up in audits or lessons learned.”

The care home was previously inspected in September last year, but said the inspectors, “one person had an injury that was caused by an issue highlighted at our inspection in September 2019, and care plans had not been reviewed.”

A spokesman for Sussex Health Care said: ““Our priority at all times is to provide the best care for all those we support.

“We have taken on board the findings from the Care Quality Commission and are focused on enhancing the quality of our services, so that this meets the standards we set ourselves moving forward.

“In recent times across Sussex Health Care’s services, we have been pleased to receive a number of improved ratings for the care we deliver for those we look after and their families.

“Our priority is to ensure that this is now replicated, so that we can continue to support the communities we serve.”