Benamy Care, a care home in Seaham, remains in special measures after failing to improve and obstructing the inspection team during an unannounced inspection in September this year.
Benamy Care is a small residential care home in Seaham providing accommodation and personal care for up to five adults with learning disabilities. There were five people using the service when CQC attempted to inspect the service.
The service was last inspected on 12 February 2016 at which time inspectors found the registered provider had failed to implement the majority of an action plan that was intended to address a range of breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, identified in a previous inspection on 19 and 20 August 2015.
CQC took enforcement action following the inspection of 19 and 20 August 2015 and the service was put into 'Special Measures'. This meant the service was kept under review and a return inspection planned within six months, with the expectation that significant improvements should have been made within this timeframe.
At the inspection of 12 February 2016 it found the registered provider had failed to make any significant improvements, remained in breach of these regulations and remained in special measures.
During this inspection of 13 September 2016 the inspection team were unable to undertake a full inspection of the service due to obstruction by the registered providers and the registered manager. They confirmed to inspectors that they had made no changes or improvements since the last inspection and did not intend to do so.
The obstruction of an inspection is a criminal offence under Section 63 (7) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. CQC has considered the appropriate regulatory response to this obstructed inspection and has shared information regarding the conduct of the registered providers with local authority commissioning professionals.
Debbie Westhead, deputy chief inspector of Adult Social Care in the North for CQC, says “People are entitled to services which provide safe, effective, compassionate and high quality care. We found that the care provided at Benamy Care fell short of what we expect services to provide.
“It is a criminal offence to obstruct a CQC inspection, and we were unable to carry out a full inspection at this location because the provider and registered manager did not enable us to do so. CQC have issued a warning letter to the provider in light of this obstruction.
“We are working with local partners including Durham County Council to ensure the safety of people using this service”
