PEOPLE’s basic needs were not being met at a care home rated inadequate and plunged into special measures, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said.

The CQC inspected Bridge House Care Home, on Bradford Road, Brighouse, on three dates in August and September. 

Inspectors told the home to make urgent improvements following the unannounced focused inspection which they undertook after receiving concerns about safeguarding and the quality of care.

They had also received complaints from relatives about the management of the service.
Sheila Grant, CQC’s head of inspection for adult social care said: “When we inspected Bridge House Care Home, we were concerned that not enough improvements had been made since our previous inspection in 2019 and it was very concerning that people’s basic needs such as regular access to food and drink weren’t being met. 

“Inspectors found evidence that people were consistently losing weight and no action was being taken to address this. Even though one person had lost over 9kg in weight and others were in a similar position, records showed they hadn’t eaten much and weren’t being offered snacks or appropriate meals to manage their weight. 

“This puts people at significant risk of malnutrition, and everyone should expect that their basic needs are met. 

“We found that not all staff had received up to date safeguarding training. 
“Someone had sustained a serious injury to their arm after an unwitnessed argument with another person living at the home. 

“There wasn’t any evidence that a health care professional had been involved, and care plans and risk assessments had not been put in place to safeguard the person. This lack of good process puts vulnerable people at serious risk of further harm. 

“People’s privacy and dignity wasn’t respected at Bridge House. 

“On many occasions, we saw people going into the bedrooms of others and lying on their beds. 

“There was a culture where this was normal, but people living at Bridge House deserve the same respect and dignity as everyone else.  

“Following the inspection, the provider has significantly increased their oversight of the service, including appointing a suitably qualified pharmacist to oversee medicines management and an additional full-time clinical lead nurse."

"We have told the provider what further improvements are required to keep people safe and we will continue to monitor them to make sure people are receiving the best possible care. If we’re not satisfied that our concerns have been addressed, we will not hesitate to take further action.”

Despite the concerns raised by inspectors, the CQC said people and relatives were “generally positive” about staff and their experiences of the home.

The watchdog added: "The provider was responsive to inspection findings and responded and acted during and after the inspection and shared detailed plans to improve their systems and processes."

A spokesperson for the home said: “The CQC report is naturally a disappointment for us all at Bridge House Care Home. However, prior to publication of the report we have already made significant progress in the areas needing improvement.

"We quickly identified a lack of trust and confidence in the then management of Bridge House and acted swiftly to bring in a Senior Management Specialist and a team of two care home managers to work with our dedicated staff team in making these improvements.

"Bridge House has received fantastic support in our efforts so far from Calderdale CCG and Calderdale Local Authority and we would like to publicly thank them for this. Equally our staff team, the residents and families have been fastidious in their support for our improvements.

"We must accept the report from CQC but we do so confident in the improvements made to date and coming in the future given the wealth of experience, support and knowledge now in place at Bridge House.”