A CARE home run by a Bradford company has been plunged into special measures following a damning inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). 

Inspectors visited Claremont Care Home, Farsley, earlier this year and uncovered a worrying catalogue of problems. 

The home is run by Park Homes, which is based in Cottingley Business Park, Bingley, and was rated ‘inadequate’ overall and in every area apart from the inspection question relating to how caring the service is, for which it was judged ‘requires improvement’. 

Inspectors said: “We found widespread shortfalls in the way the service was managed, and we were not assured the service provided safe care. 

“People were not protected from the risk of harm. During this inspection, we shared safeguarding concerns with the local authority because people had lost considerable weight in a short period of time and appropriate referrals had not always been made in a timely way, we found unexplained bruising had not been investigated and one person made an allegation against staff.”

Concerns were raised that bruises and marks had not been fully investigated, as well as over the number of times night staff had found people on the floor, with no injuries reported.

Inspectors said fire safety was not well managed and risks that required “immediate action” had not been dealt with in a timely way.

They also found that not all emergency call bells for residents were in working order, the home was not always clean, and some staff had not received safeguarding training.

“Relatives shared examples of when they felt staff did not always have the skills to meet their loved ones' needs,” said the report.

The report highlighted an example where a resident was incontinent but was left waiting for their emergency buzzer to be answered, despite four staff members being near.

It said: “We found warning signs of a closed culture developing at the service. CQC defines a closed culture as being 'a poor culture that can lead to harm, including human rights breaches such as abuse'.”

A statement from Park Homes said the company is working to ensure the findings are addressed “without delay”.

It added: “As Care Homes emerge from the pandemic there is much work to be done and we regret that the service at Claremont fell below our expected standards. 

“We are taking all the necessary steps to ensure that improvements are made quickly at Claremont to ensure that the previously high standards are met again at the service.”