Archived: The Gables

One person told us they chose to spend much of their time in their own room away from others. They said they like spending time alone, although sometimes they decided to do this as they do not get along with other people who live in the home. They told us 'have you met [one person who they named]? Well you would have seen that they can be very noisy. Another person here is very demanding, always wanting the staff and [another person who they named] is very loud and aggressive and they hit people'.

We spent a significant amount of time in communal areas of the home observing communication and interaction between the people who live in the home and the staff who support them. Staff were extremely busy with many, often conflicting, demands from the people who live in the home. This is clearly a stressful working environment and staff simply do not have enough time to meet each person's needs.

One person told us they do not always feel safe in the home. They said '[one person who they named] hits me, they punch me. I feel terrified when they do that because they hurt me. They shouldn't do things like that to people, it's not right'. Another person said 'one person goes through my things in my walker and tries to take them. I trapped their hand in there once but it didn't make any difference'.

People who live in the home have a wide range of needs and abilities. People do not always get on and some people who live in the home are extremely vulnerable. Some people would not be able to tell us if they felt safe in the home so we asked staff about this.

One staff member said 'the biggest thing here is the challenging behaviour. One person punches people and throws things at them. They target other residents, one in particular, who gets very upset. They have also thrown a cup at a member of staff which hit them on the head and injured them'. Another member of staff said 'we have people here who have a temper and we do our best to calm them down. One person does target certain people here. We are trying some new things. In my opinion it doesn't work because we are stretched'.

We found during our visit that the home had an extremely busy, often chaotic feel. Staff did not have time to meet people's needs or give them the attention they needed. Staff told us this inevitably led to people who live in the home becoming anxious or distressed. One staff member said 'the atmosphere makes it worse for people. It should be calm to help people but it's not. You can see what it's like and it's like this every day'.

Some people who live in the home showed us their bedrooms; the d'cor in these varied. One person said they were happy with their room and they felt they had everything they needed. They said 'I like this room. I moved from one upstairs because I can't manage the stairs and the lift hasn't worked for ages. I bought all the things in it, my TV, bed and my hoover. I have Sky TV as I like watching most sports. The only drawback is it hasn't got it's own en-suite but there is a bathroom next door'. Another person showed us their bedroom and they said they had all they needed and they tried to help to keep it tidy.

Most areas of the home are in an extremely poor state of d'cor and require significant improvement to ensure they provide a safe, homely and clean environment for people to live in. Many areas of the home smelled of urine.

Some people we spoke with were able to tell us their views about the staff who supported them. One person said 'most of the staff are fine but it can vary. The staff are quite mixed, but I find them ok. Some days there are more staff around than others though'. Another person said 'yes, I like them. There's not always enough staff around though and I don't do as much as I used to do'.

Throughout our visit we saw staff interacting and communicating with people who live at the home. Staff did their best and appeared genuinely committed to the people they supported and had their best interests at heart. However, it was clear staff cannot meet people's needs and there was a chaotic feel to the home.

We asked staff how this impacted on people living at the home. One staff member told us 'we are often short staffed here. People don't get the care they need because of the lack of staff'. Other comments were 'you just get worn out here. I have seen staff come into the office and cry. The clients pick up on all this' and 'we all work well as a team and support each other, but the staff are drained and this has a big effect on the residents'.

Due to the serious concerns indentified during our inspection, we intended to use our enforcement powers to vary the conditions of registration for the provider R J Homes Ltd and remove The Gables so that they would not be able to provide a service to people from this location. This process would effectively cancel the registration of this care home.

We were advised by the provider immediately following our inspection that they intend to close The Gables and they anticipate the closure being completed by 30 September 2011. We are therefore working closely with the provider and with other agencies to ensure the safety and wellbeing of each person who lives in the home until the closure of The Gables is complete.