Whitgift House, the care home on Brighton Road in South Croydon run by the Whitgift Foundation, has been rated as “Requires improvement” following its most recent inspection by the Care Quality Commission.
Staff shortage: the CQC report has rated Whitgift House as ‘Requires improvement’
The CQC found “breaches of legal regulations” and heard from people at the home who “felt isolated in their rooms”.
The just-published inspection report says that Whitgift House requires improvement under the “Safe” category, as well as for the home’s leadership.
The CQC report comes four years after Inside Croydon published an account from one of our readers explaining how staying at Whitgift House left them feeling “scared” on several occasions.
That report said that the home’s management blamed a shortage of staff for the shortcomings identified by our reader.
Ian Bone has Parkinson’s disease. He was 75 in 2022 when Croydon Council’s social services placed him in Whitgift House for a 10-day stay – costing £1,360 – to provide respite for his partner.
“It’s 24/7 care looking after a person with advanced Parkinson’s Disease like me,” Bone wrote then
“This proved a constant theme. If you buzzed for a staff member you were told you were preventing another older or more ill person from getting seen, and thus the dominant morality was decided.”
Bone was left alone while in the shower, going against the home’s own policy.
He made complaints about his treatment to the home’s administrator and the night staff boss, “who appeared shocked and blamed agency staff and said they would take action”.
“The situation was improved by the end of my stay,” Bone noted.
There are some troubling similarities in some of the CQC’s findings in their report, which followed an inspection in May and June this year.
Whitgift House, which is situated in the grounds of the Whitgift boys’ private school, provides support for 31 older people, “including people living with dementia, physical disability and other complex needs”, the inspectors said.
Report card: the latest CQC ratings for Whitgift House in South Croydon
It has been almost eight years since a CQC inspection of Whitgift House, when it was rated “Good”.
The inspectors said: “In this assessment we have rated this provider as ‘Require improvement’. We found breaches of legal regulations related to good governance and safeguarding.”
The summary report says: “We observed staff treating people with dignity and respect, supporting people patiently at mealtimes, and knowing people’s individual needs well. Care records we reviewed were detailed and included people’s social histories, and medicines management arrangements were safe.
“However, the assessment identified areas where the service did not always provide consistently good outcomes.
“Several people, relatives and staff said there were times when there were not enough staff to meet people’s needs promptly, particularly for people who required two staff to support them.
“People reported delays with personal care and reduced opportunities for meaningful one-to-one engagement, with some people telling us they felt isolated in their rooms.
“We found shortfalls in record-keeping and oversight of safeguarding which meant we could not be assured they were maintaining accurate records to comply with their regulatory requirements to meet good governance standards and keep people safe from potential harm. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.
Home improvements: some residents said they felt isolated in their rooms
“Leaders understood the need to strengthen governance, staffing oversight and the quality of activities, which included on-going recruitment of additional staff.
“Overall, people experienced kind and respectful care from committed staff, but further work was needed to ensure staffing and governance arrangements consistently supported safe, responsive and well-led care.”
The Whitgift Foundation issued a statement in response to the CQC’s findings: “We are grateful to the CQC for their work to inspect and support our care provision at Whitgift House.
“While we are naturally disappointed by the ‘Requires improvement’ rating, we had already recognised the need for some improvements in the home and had been working on these with the team.
“The CQC findings will form part of wider work which we appointed the new home manager to lead to ensure our offer at Whitgift House is as strong as possible.
“We look forward to working with CQC to demonstrate our improvements in the coming months.”
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