Swanky care home in Preston told to pull its socks up by health watchdog

Finney House, which opened in 2016 with single rooms starting at a basic £900 a week, has again been rated "requires improvement" by the Care Quality Commission following a surprise inspection.

The home, described by visitors as "like a five-star hotel," was criticised on grounds of how safe and how well-led it was - both areas it fell down on in a previous check at the end of 2020.

Inspectors reported some improvements had been made over the intervening three months, but it was still not up to the standard required by law.

Finney House, on the junction of Sir Tom Finney Way and Blackpool Road at Deepdale, cost residents almost double the average for care homes in the North West when it opened its doors four-and-a-half years ago.

Since then it has had a chequered history according to the CQC, being declared "inadequate" in it's first inspection in August 2017, then classed as "requires improvement" in June 2018.

In August 2019 inspectors gave it top marks with a "good" in all five categories - safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.

But in September 2020 it was back to "requires improvement" overall and has kept that rating from the most recent visit last month.

The CQC report says that after the inspection in September the company which owns the home, L&M Healthcare (Deepdale) Ltd, prepared an action plan saying what it intended to do and when to address the issues.

"At this inspection enough improvement had not been made and the provider was still in breach of regulations," said the regulator.

"The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement for two consecutive inspections."

The CQC added that in reaching its conclusion it had taken account of the "exceptional circumstances" of the Covid-19 pandemic.

There had been changes to both the management and staff and an outbreak of Covid had impacted on staff absence, resulting in the use of high numbers of agency staff which had "created further instability in the home."

However, records did not always provide clear guidance for staff about people's care and support needs. There were shortfalls in the management of behaviours that challenge. Care records were not sufficiently detailed and guidance for staff was not always consistent. "This placed people at risk of avoidable harm."

Records of accidents and incidents were not always fully completed or analysed to avoid re-occurrence.

While some aspects of the management of people's medicines had improved, further improvements were necessary to ensure people received their medicines safely and when prescribed.

L&M Healthcare issued a statement saying: "The most recent inspection by the CQC was a focused inspection which looked at only two of the domains on which they assess a service: Safe and Well-Led.

"This inspection occurred just three months after the initial inspection and it already acknowledges an improvement from an Inadequate to Requires Improvement rating in Safe. We are currently working with the CQC and local authorities to resolve outstanding issues."

Finney House was in the news last November when a 77-year-old dementia patient was removed from the home by his family after allegations he had been pushed out of bed and had hot water thrown in his face by a member of staff.

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