Wolverhampton nursing home placed in special measures over care breaches

However, the home said while it took the commission's feedback seriously, the rating was "flawed."

At the time of the checks there were 33 people living at the home which is operated by a company of the same name.

The ratings for safety and leadership categories haven fallen from requires improvement to inadequate and for how effectiveness, caring and responsive the service has fallen from "good" to requires improvement.

The CQC has also placed the operation in special measures meaning it will be kept under close review to keep people safe while improvements are made.

CQC Black Country operations deputy director Andy Brand said: “During our inspection, we found Wellesley House hadn’t made all the necessary improvements identified at our previous visit and the quality of care had declined further. Usually, when we find poor leadership, it is difficult for a service to provide good care which is what we found here.

“People and their relatives gave us mixed feedback on life at Wellesley House. Some people raised concerns about the time it took staff to support them, but others told us staff responded quickly and acted promptly when they were unwell. Although people were generally happy with the care they received, we found it wasn’t safe and failed to meet expected standards.

“Staff didn’t always provide people with safe care. They didn’t keep care plans accurate or up to date. This put people at risk of receiving care that didn’t adequately meet their needs.

“Leaders didn’t identify learning opportunities to improve the service when they reviewed incidents. They didn’t investigate some incidents at all, and failed to identify trends which would have helped them prevent future incidents.

“Our inspection team saw staff use incorrect moving and handling techniques to move people. We’d identified this as an issue at our previous inspection, but the service hadn’t improvements and we had to make a safeguarding referral due to what our inspectors saw on this visit.

“We have told leaders at Wellesley House where they need to make urgent improvements, and with the service now in special measures, will monitor them more closely to ensure people remain safe while this happens.”

Inspectors found that staff did not always respect people’s privacy and dignity, leaders did not address issues promptly, Wolverhampton City Council social services had previously identified staff using expired face masks and failings to record pressure relief, which leaders still had not addressed. They found that although managers ensured adequate staffing levels, staff did not always have the skills needed to support residents  safely.

In addition, staff didn’t store medicines safely and leaders weren’t always receptive to feedback and concerns raised by other healthcare bodies.

In response Wellesley House Nursing Home stated: "We take all feedback from the CQC very seriously. However, we feel the latest report does not accurately reflect the positive changes and improvements made to the home since the CQC's previous visit in November 2024, the safety and quality of care we provide, or the positive feedback we have received from the local authority, Integrated Care Board, and other external partners, service users and their families. We have a joint improvement plan - which we review at least monthly and there are no major concerns identified on this plan.  

"We have therefore submitted detailed feedback to the CQC highlighting the shortcomings in their report and the proof points that underline why we feel their grading – and the action being taken as a result – is flawed. We hope the CQC will engage constructively with our concerns, especially given the overwhelmingly positive feedback residents, families, and our team provided to the CQC about their experience at the home.

"Our first priority is to always ensure we are delivering the highest standards of care and maintaining the wellbeing and safety of our residents. Following the inspection in November 2024 – when we had recently taken over running the home – we accepted the CQC's feedback and immediately began work to implement improvements. All of these changes were either in place or underway at the time of the CQC's most recent inspection in June 2025, and it is disappointing that the CQC has chosen not to reflect this positive progress in its report.

 "We are experienced care providers, and we know that our improvement journey is ongoing and it will take time to fully embed the changes we are making. However, we are confident in the team we have, the action plan that is in place, and the investments we have made – including introducing digital care records – that are driving high standards of care at Wellesley House. We invite the CQC to work with us to ensure its report accurately reflects the quality of our service, our experienced and passionate leadership, and the positive experiences of residents and their loved ones.

"We thank the people we support and their families for their support and patience throughout this process and the confidence and trust they continue to place in us."

Wolverhampton Council added: ‘We are aware of the recent inspection of Wellesley House by the CQC. Our officers are working alongside health colleagues and the owners of the care home to ensure the residents’ care and support needs are being met.

"A formal suspension of new business is imposed and the council will continue to monitor the wellbeing of the residents closely whilst supporting the home to make the necessary improvements.’"