Bexhill care home trio told to improve

The Normanhurst’s nursing home, residential hotel and dementia home were all rated as ‘requires improvement’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The De La Warr Parade home’s main issues revolved around auditing and record-keeping, although some concerns were raised about staff’s handling of people with dementia.

Registered manager Claire MacMillan said the inspection was fair and they had learned a lot from the process, which highlighted areas of improvement, but also showed them where they are succeeding.

“We feel we’re a very good organisation but we have got to do more paperwork and we have got to find a balance as we have got to provide evidence to prove we doing all things we say we do,” she said.

The residential hotel provides for up to 82 elderly people, the nursing home gives care for 31 people and the dementia home provides help for 18 people with a range of mental health issues.

The CQC inspected all three homes unannounced over four days between June 28 and July 5, with them all receiving similar comments in reports published on September 7.

Apart from the elderly mentally infirm home being judged as caring, the other categories for all three homes (safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led) was rated as ‘requires improvement’ – the second-worst score out of four.

Some assessments of risk for people did not include relevant information to reduce people’s risk, however most areas relating to risk were addressed appropriately, the report says. Some people were not always responded to by staff who supported them in the way they needed, according to the inspectors.

But it adds: “People said they were supported by kindly, caring staff.

“They said there were enough staff on duty to meet their needs, and they felt safe in the home.”

Ms MacMillan said the staff are still coming to terms with the new Mental Capacity Act and now these issues have been identified, they are working to put them right.

“It involves a lot more paperwork which is unfortunate as it takes the carers off the floor,” she said.

“We work so hard on our car we just need to put more work into another area.”

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