Littlehampton care home that looks after people with learning disabilities told it must improve

Camellots Care Home, in Arundel Road, Littlehampton, was inspected over two days on February 9 and 10 this year. The last rating for this service was good, according to a report, published in October 2017.

However, it was concluded after the latest unannounced inspection that the home now ‘requires improvement’ in safety, effectiveness and leadership. It remained ‘good’ for care and responsiveness.

A spokesperson for the home said: “We are really proud to have kept all our vulnerable residents safe from Covid pandemic and since March 2022 have been opening up to the world again. This inevitably can cause some adjustment issues and we have made appropriate and exciting changes to the management of Camellots in the light of the report.”

In the report, published in March, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) ‘identified a breach’ in relation to governance during the inspection.

The report noted: “The provider had failed to establish adequate systems and processes to assess and improve the quality and safety of the service provided or to assess and monitor risks. This placed people at risk of harm.

"We have asked the provider to send us a report that says what action they are going to take. We will check that this action is taken by the provider.”

Camellots was described in the report as a residential care home, providing regulated activities of accommodation and personal care for up to nine people living with a learning disability and autistic people.

Inspectors found that risks to people from fire ‘had not always been assessed effectively’.

The report read: “We found fire doors wedged open, this would mean they would not automatically close in the event of fire. We raised this with the registered manager who arranged for automatic closures to be fitted. We received assurance this had been done.

“General risk assessments were in place; however, some had not been reviewed for over a year. The registered manager gave assurances this was work in progress.”

The report stated that improvements could be made to the way staff are recruited and the way information about medicines is written down.

The inspectors said each person had a medicine plan but these ‘were mostly out-of-date’, adding: “Risks to people were not always written down and checked to see if they were still ok.

"People could not always be assured they received their medicines safely in accordance with the prescriber's instructions.”

The report added that autistic people did not all have assessments of their sensory needs and residents were ‘not always supported to understand how to do more for themselves’.

"The manager didn’t always make regular checks to make sure people are kept safe,” the inspectors added.

However, there were plenty of positives in the report.

The inspectors concluded that people ‘were supported by enough staff’ and residents felt safe ‘because staff knew how to keep them safe from danger’.

The report continued: “People got medical help when they needed it. Staff mostly had the right skills and training to support people. The manager listened to people and staff.

"People had meetings with staff to talk about how their support can get better. We observed staff were prompt in supporting people, who needed assistance. People told us staff were kind to them and how they always had time to chat; we saw this in practice.

“Throughout the inspection we observed staff interacting with people. People were relaxed with staff and generally spoke positively about the service and the staff.

“Relatives told us they felt their loved ones were safe. One said: ‘The staff are brilliant’.”

The CQC has asked the care home to make changes ‘and to tell us when they will do this’, adding: “We will go back to check this service again.”

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