Eastbourne’s Chaseley plunges from ‘outstanding’ to ‘requires improvement’

The care home in South Cliff, which treats people from 18+ with severe physical disabilities, received the rating after an inspection prompted by ‘safeguarding matters not being properly reported to the local authority’.

The latest CQC report, published on November 5 following a visit in August, said inspectors found evidence of breaches of regulations in relation to protecting people from abuse.

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Other issues included person-centred care, dealing with complaints, reporting significant events, and governance.

The CQC report says, “We looked for evidence that people were protected from abuse and avoidable harm. At the last inspection this key question was rated as good. At this inspection this key question has now deteriorated to requires improvement.”

Some aspects of the service were not always safe, the report said, and there was limited assurance about safety. There was an increased risk that people could be harmed, it found.

A person first alerted the CQC about the care home as they were concerned about their loved one’s safety.

Incidents which inspectors said should have been reported included a person who suffered injuries after being scalded, and one person who had gone missing when out on an activity. No action had been recorded about how to prevent the latter from happening again, and the incident was classed as a “near miss” by the registered manager.

Another incident involved an altercation with two people which had been described as a “safeguarding matter” in the records but had not been referred to the local authority safeguarding team to review.

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Other concerns raised included staffing levels. The report said the care provider confirmed they were at least nine staff short, with the equivalent of 28 shifts a week being covered by staff working overtime and agency staff.

Inspectors observed on one day there were delays in response times and these went to emergency bells (after ten minutes with no response) twice because they had not been responded to.

One relative said in the report, “You can get outstanding care, when available, but it is not always available at the moment.”

Chaseley was rated ‘requires improvement’ in all sections of the report save the caring category, which had slipped from ‘outstanding’ in the previous report to ‘good’.

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Tracey May, Chair at Chaseley, said a plan has been drawn up to return the care home to its former excellence.

She said in a statement, “Recently, The Chaseley Trust received an inspection from the Care Quality Commission. You will remember in the previous inspection, Chaseley was found to be ‘Good’ in some categories of care home provision and ‘Outstanding’ in the majority.

“This time, the Home was found to be ‘Good’ in one particular area – that of ‘Caring’. The inspection shows that Chaseley provides a highly caring environment, but that some other areas of provision need improving.

“Already a plan to return Chaseley to its former excellence has been drawn up and is being put in place. Chaseley will be working closely with the CQC.

“The Trustees are delighted to be able to report that an exceptional and very successful individual has been contracted to begin work as CEO at the beginning of December. The Trustees will be able to reveal the new CEO’s identity imminently.

“We all look forward – Trustees and Staff – to returning Chaseley very soon to its position as an outstanding and much respected care home, working tirelessly to support its residents.”

View the full report on the CQC website, cqc.org.uk