Haythorne Place: "Dirty" Sheffield care home rated inadequate by CQC following death of resident

Haythorne Place, on Shiregreen Lane, is a care home providing people with personal and nursing care, some of whom are living with mental health issues or dementia.

It is run by Roseberry Care Centres GB Limited, which also runs Norbury Court, one of the other few Sheffield care homes with an inadequate rating.

The CQC said the inspection was prompted in part due to an “incident” after which a person died.

Information shared with the CQC about the incident suggested potential concerns about environmental safety and the standard of care, which has sparked a separate and specific investigation.

The recent general inspection found the home was “dirty” and residents were “not safeguarded from abuse”.

Alan Stephenson, CQC deputy director of operations in the north, said: “Staff couldn’t always protect people from the risk of infection because the home was dirty and many areas had a bad smell making it an unpleasant environment.

“Staff didn’t lock the waste removal rooms which contained harmful chemicals which was concerning when Haythorne Place is home to people with dementia who can become easily confused.

“We saw people weren’t safeguarded from abuse and avoidable harm due to low staffing levels. Staff weren’t always able to support people quickly, or as often as they needed, with people being left alone for long periods of time.

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Staff morale and wellbeing at Haythorne Place was also low, and staff training was not completed to a satisfactory level across the service, the inspection found.

Inspectors found people’s care plans were not detailed or accurate enough to ensure high quality care.

Mr Stephenson added: “It was concerning to see a lack of strong leadership, or a culture that didn’t encourage high-quality care. This was affecting people living at the home as there weren’t effective processes in place to enable staff to provide safe, dignified, person-centred care.

“Some people told us they felt there weren’t many activities to take part in. Staff acknowledged this and told us that accessing the community was an issue due to lack of staff and drivers.

"We have told leaders at Haythorne Place where we expect to see rapid and widespread improvements and will continue to monitor them closely to keep people safe while this happens. We will return to check on their progress and won’t hesitate to take further action if people are not receiving the care they have a right to expect.”

The home was previously rated “requires improvement” overall, following the previous inspection in 2021.

It was noted by inspectors that people using the service felt able to discuss their concerns with staff.

Haythorne Place has been placed in special measures, which means it will be kept under close review by CQC and further action will be taken if there are not “rapid and widespread” improvements.

A care home spokesperson said: “We would like to apologise to our residents and their families who quite rightly expect and deserve a consistent delivery of high quality care.

“At the time of the inspection, the home was recruiting for a new and experienced home manager, who is now in position and committed to delivering improvements. The home manager, together with our full leadership team, is working closely with the local authority and our progress is being closely monitored by all.

“We take feedback from the CQC seriously and we will work tirelessly to make all necessary improvements.”