Care home near Sheffield rated as 'inadequate' as inspectors find 'significant shortfalls' in service

The watchdog inspected Rother Valley View on Worksop Road on June 17, and rated the service “inadequate” overall.

Rother Valley View provides residential care for adults under the age of 65 who require nursing or personal care in six self-contained flats.

Inspectors found “significant shortfalls” in the governance of the service, and “found concerns with the safe management of risk for areas including people who were at risk of choking and ingesting hazardous substances.”

Breaches of regulations were also identified, in the categories of staffing, “failing to manage people’s medicines safely,” and “infection prevention and control procedures”.

The inspection, which is the first for the service since it registered with the CQC in 2019, was prompted “in part” due to concerns received about safe recruitment.

The report states:”we were alerted before the inspection that the provider had not sought adequate assurance around the character and suitability of staff.

“We identified one staff had been employed prior to all safe recruitment checks being carried out.

“This meant that people were left vulnerable to potential abuse.

“The provider took action to address this concern and put checks in place to ensure the recruitment process was being followed for all staff.”

Inspectors also state that staff were “not suitably competent or skilled”, and that “over half of staff had not completed a NVQ qualification, or equivalent, in health and social care.”

However, the report states that staff were “kind and caring”, and “positive interactions were seen”.

The inspection found that electrical equipment was more than six months overdue a PAT test, but that “environmental checks in relation to fire safety, gas safety and electrical safety were in place”.

A safeguarding alert was raised by inspectors, after they were “led to believe that one person had been given too much medication.”

The report states that he provider, CristalCare Limited, was in breach of regulations for “failing to manage people’s medicines safely.”

There was a lack of meaningful activities available to people. One person spent the full day in their flat andwe didn’t see them come out or being encouraged to take part in any activities which could have preventedsocial isolation.

The service will be inspected in six months’ time, and if “significant improvements” are not made, the CQC may begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service.

Cristal Care Limited had not responded to comment at the time of publication.