2:21pm Friday 27th January 2012
By Sarah May Hayes
A CARE home has been threatened with legal action after a routine inspection revealed it was failing to meet required standards.
Springfield Care Home in Grove Road, Walthamstow, which caters for 18 to 65-year-olds with learning disabilities, has been told by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) that it must act immediately to improve the care it provides or risk legal action, which could ultimately mean the care home would shut down.
After the CQC visited the home in November last year inspectors found that the home was failing to meet five essential standards which were lowering the quality of life of the people living there.
The CQC report said: “Inspectors found that privacy, dignity and independence were not being respected at the home and that the home did not meet emotional and social needs which could lead to risk of neglect and psychological harm.”
The report showed that the home failed to provide safe surroundings that “promoted wellbeing” and that a bedroom that was in use had no furniture other than a bed screwed to the floor and a TV and radio stored in a locked box high on the wall.
The inspectors also noted that they witnessed two episodes of poor care and that there were insufficient staffing levels at the home.
Deputy Director of the CQC, Matthew Trainer, said: “While our inspectors found that physical health needs were being met at the home, emotional, social and psychological needs were not. This was alarming and could not be allowed to continue.
“People should not be expected to live in a care home that cannot meet their needs. We have asked Springfield Care Home to send us an action plan showing how they will comply with the standards and will follow up on this.
“We will not hesitate to use our legal powers if the provider does not comply with the essential standards for care that everyone is entitled to expect.”
Owner of the care home, Mahendra Pratap Rambojun, said: “This is not an accurate report of our care home. We have a resident who has been with us since 1999 and we screw her furniture down and keep her room bare for her own safety as she throws heavy furniture around.
“If I had more staff I would have to put up our fees and we barely make ends meet as it is. Waltham Forest council know I do a good job and now I feel I have been let down by the Care Quality Commission and the council.”
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