Sawley care unit ‘lacked staff at times’

Riverside Care Centre, which has about 40 residents, was said to be lacking carers during some afternoon and evening shifts, as well as at weekends.

This meant staff were not always able to properly deal with ‘aggressive incidents’ involving some residents.

However, the home said it was in the process of recruiting new staff at the time of the inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which took place on April 1, and the issues have already been addressed.

Bosses also pointed out that the six other basic standards were met, with the report also containing dozens of positive comments.

But on the staffing measure, the CQC report said: “We looked at this outcome as we received some concerning information about staffing levels.

“We found staffing levels were not consistently maintained and were at times insufficient to meet needs and expectations. We found examples of low staffing numbers on the afternoon-evening shifts and at the weekends when staff were also covering additional duties in the laundry or providing social activities.

“We discussed our findings with the registered manager. We were told new staff had been recruited and would commence working next week and approval had been given to recruit a further member of staff.

“Whilst we were confident the staffing levels had now been reviewed and adjusted to ensure people's needs were met, we were concerned staffing levels had previously not been kept under review, or increased in line with people's changing physical and mental health needs.”

A spokesman for the home, which is run by Canterbury Leased Homes Limited, said: “This issue was being addressed at the time of the inspection and new staff had been recruited.

“This was one minor issue in an otherwise excellent report, which included some very positive comments from the CQC, relatives and staff.”

He said the CQC has since carried out a re-inspection and found the home to be fully-compliant, although this report has not been published yet.