Failing Chaseview Nursing Home facing closure

Chaseview Nursing Home, on Water Street in Burntwood, has been rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission after a string of failings were found.

Inspectors from the health watchdog saw one resident fall over and not receive any help from staff while another, who was at risk of choking, was left to lie on their back and drink a thick fluid.

The CQC also noted insufficient staff numbers and staff taking more than 45 minutes to respond to a call bell.

• Click here to read the full CQC report

The home, which looks after up to 60 people, could now be shut down if it does not improve in six months.

Inspectors visited on February 9 and rated the service's safety and leadership as inadequate. The home's effectiveness, caring and responsiveness were all rated requires improvement.

A report released this month after the visit said: "The service was not consistently safe. There were an insufficient number of staff to provide people with safe care and protect them from harm.

"Specialist nutritional systems were not managed safely which increased people's risk of choking. People's medicines management required improvement to ensure they were supported correctly.

"The service was not consistently well-led. The provider had not taken a consistent approach to staffing.

"The dependency tool used to plan staffing was not completed correctly.

"The provider was unable to monitor the call bell response times. There was an audit programme in place but action was not recorded when shortfalls were identified."

During the inspection, the CQC also noted a number of incidents where residents were put at risk.

The report added: "We heard a person coughing in their bedroom. On investigation we found they were lying flat in bed drinking a cup of thickened fluid. The person had been prescribed thickened fluids as they were at risk of choking.

"We alerted a member of staff as we were concerned the person should not have been lying flat and they were starting to choke. A member of staff attended the person's bedroom but left them, with the drink, whilst they went to find a colleague to help them sit the person up. We saw one person was sitting alone in a communal lounge. We saw this person stand and fall forwards onto the floor.

"We activated the emergency call bell but when we received no response from staff, we made the person safe and went to find a member of staff to support them. The first member of staff said they did not know the person and took no immediate action to reassure this person or to check for potential injuries."

HC-One, which runs the care home, was contacted but unavailable for comment.