Scarborough's Gladstone House care home placed into special measures

The CQC said the unannounced inspection was partly carried out due to concerns received about the quality of care being provided to people, as well as infection prevention and control issues.

Gladstone House provides accommodation and nursing care to people who may be living with mental health issues or a learning disability.

Following October’s inspection, the care home’s overall rating dropped from good to inadequate.

Ratings for how well-led, safe, effective, caring, and responsive to people’s needs, have also dropped from good to inadequate.

The service will be kept under review by the CQC and re-inspected to check on the progress of improvements.

Debbie Ivanova, CQC’s director for people with a learning disability and autistic people, said: “When we visited Gladstone House, we were disappointed to find care standards had deteriorated since our last inspection, and leaders failed to have a grasp of the issues facing the service.

"However, during our inspection, it was encouraging that leaders took immediate action and started to address some of the issues we identified.

The inspection also found that people didn’t always receive good quality care, support or treatment as staff weren’t adequately trained to meet people’s needs.

They weren’t supported to have maximum choice, control and independence of their own lives, and weren’t encouraged to achieve their aspirations and goals, the CQC report said.

In response, a statement issued by Gladstone House read: "For 17 years, Madoo and Hassan Emambocus have owned Gladstone House after both leaving the NHS as qualified nurses with teaching degrees and mentorship.

“For those 17 years, Gladstone House has always been rated as good.

“During Covid, much of the staff’s attention and time was patient focussed and not admin-based.

“Staff spent a lot of time focussing on patient care and a lot of paperwork was behind because of that.

“On the day of inspection, the CQC observed staff to be caring, with dignity and privacy always observed.

“Resident care has never been affected, however, the management acknowledge that due to Covid, some of the paperwork had been allowed to lapse.

“We are working with the CQC and have already made significant improvements.”

Full report on the CQC website.