Two Sussex care homes owned by the same company are told they must improve

Both Longfield Manor care home in Billingshurst and Upper Mead care home in Henfield have been rated as ‘requiring improvement’ following inspections by the Care Quality Commission.

The care homes, which look after elderly people, are both owned and 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.

The Care Quality Commission inspected Longfield Manor in February and, in a report just out, rated it as ‘requiring improvement’ - for the fourth consecutive time.

The inspectors said the care home manager “had worked hard to improve the culture and ethos in the service since the last inspection.“ They said that while the risk to people was reduced “as permanent staff knew them well, this is an area that required improvement to ensure effective monitoring and quality assurance.”

Following a separate inspection at Upper Mead care home in Henfield, the Care Quality Commission said: “People were not always protected from risks” and that behaviours of concern were not consistently assessed and mitigated.

The inspectors added: “Staff practice and reporting systems to safeguard people from abuse were not always effective.”

Upper Mead had also been rated as ‘requiring improvement’ following a previous inspection.

A spokesman for Sussex Health Care said: “Whilst it is encouraging to see recognition of the caring environment we provide for residents, reflected in an improvement to ‘good’ in this area, we were disappointed with the overall outcomes from the Care Quality Commission.

“This is especially hard given the regulator’s positive comments about residents at the homes having choice, having healthy balanced diets and having access to health care services from staff who knew what action to take to keep people safe.

“References were also made about our end of life care being compassionate and dignified so the final rating (requiring improvement) was difficult for our staff to read, especially given the excellent work they do, every day.

“Like all good quality care providers, we strive to improve all the time, and we will continue to do so.

“For those who use the service, and their loved ones, both homes have very good feedback so we look forward to CQC visiting us again soon.”

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