OWNERS of a Winchester nursing home for pensioners with dementia have been ordered to make urgent improvements to standards of care.

The Care Quality Commission issued two formal warning notices to Bereweeke Court Nursing Home after unannounced inspections in February, April, May, June and October.

Concerns about the Bupa-run home, which is registered to care for up to 56 patients, included too few staff, no permanent manager and risks of residents catching Legionnaires’ disease, a form or pneumonia.

The under-occupied home failed to meet four of the eight key standards, including staffing levels, monitoring quality of services and safety of premises.

Adam Hughs, regional director in the south for CQC, said: “We have met with the provider and have made it clear to them that this continued failure to meet the national standards is completely unacceptable.

“They have told us that they are taking steps to make the required changes and we and the local authority are continuing to monitor the situation closely to check that people are safe.

“People are entitled to be treated in services which are safe, effective, caring, well led and responsive to their needs. Where a service is failing on any of these grounds, we will expect the provider to improve.

“We will return unannounced in due course to check that the home has made the changes required. If improvements have not been made we will consider further enforcement action.”

The Commission’s warning follows an unannounced inspection in October to follow up on earlier concerns.

In the latest report inspectors found although improvements had been made there was still found cause for concern, including

* Elderly residents not protected against the risk of Legionnaires’ disease despite previous warnings. Hot and cold water systems had not been adequately monitored and maintained;

* Use of lapstraps in wheelchairs and bedrails – forms of restraint  –  when it was not clear from patients’ note if they had given consent or had mental capacity to do so;

* Lack of qualified and experienced staff to meet patients’ needs. Complaints of too many temporary agency staff;

* A broken call bell system in one wing.  One person was “repeatedly calling out for assistance” but there were no staff available to hear;

* One physically disabled resident left sitting in a sling for 15 minutes waiting to be lifted with a hoist by two care workers;

* Lack of social activities despite the recruitment of extra staff. Residents complained outings were rare.

However staff always knocked on doors and respected patients’ privacy, the choice of food was good and individual care plans were updated. There had been a recruitment drive to hire more staff.

Vivienne Birch, Director of Partnerships, Bupa Care Services, said today: “The health and wellbeing of our residents is our absolute priority. We have taken immediate action and improvements have been seen by the Care Quality Commission, but we appreciate we are not yet at the level we want to reach.

“We have restructured the staff team and believe the changes we are making will ensure that high standards of care are achieved and maintained.”