CQC warning: Regulators keep us on our toes says manager (From Banbury Cake)

CQC warning: Regulators keep us on our toes says manager

9:00am Monday 4th March 2013 in Headlines

A CARE home that turned itself around, following a damning CQC report, has backed the watchdog’s work.

Inspectors found The Albany, in Headington, Oxford, which has 38 beds, had failed all seven “essential” safety standards in July, 2011.

Patients had been left without prescribed medicines, hot water and heating, and toilet seats were found soiled and emergency evacuation lights broken.

But the care home has now changed hands from Southern Cross to Four Seasons Health Care and a CQC report in August found no issues.

Home manager Teresa Mangonon said: “I arrived in December 2011 and really had a good clean-up of the whole place, from the care plans to standards of care, cleanliness of the building to fire safety. Everything.

“It is important to deliver quality to residents, not just because it sounds great and is the whole ethos of Four Seasons, but because it is important to me we mean what we say. I take it personally.

“It is not going to be 100 per cent perfect but we need to be open and transparent about it.

There is nothing to hide.”

She said the home was closed to new patients between December 2011 and February 2012 until inspectors, invited by the care home, cleared the facility.

A residents’ association was also created, which is involved in hiring new staff, and carers spent a day as patients to increase their understanding.

Miss Mangonon added: “The CQC is important. The commission’s standards are a good guide to how we should look after people and what we need to focus on.

“The regulators keep us on our toes.”