Melanie Newman
An “unbearable smell” and a resident lying naked in a urine-soaked bed were found during recent inspections of care homes run by a company part-owned by a significant Tory donor.
The Care Quality Commission has taken enforcement action, which is reserved for serious or repeated breaches of regulations, in the last year at two of Gold Care’s 23 nursing homes.
In total a third of Gold Care homes, a company that made more than £1m profit last year, have failed to meet at least one required standard at last inspection.
The homes — which house old people who require nursing care, many of whom have dementia – are owned by Ravinder Gidar, who was invited to the Conservative’s summer party in June 2013. He gave £50,000 to the Party a few months later.
Since then one of the care homes run by his company has been fined and another issued with a formal improvement notice after a local authority refused to send any more old people there.
A further six homes have failed on one or more essential standards in their most recent CQC inspections.
In addition, last year a local authority suspended placements at a seventh home for several months and many of the other homes that are currently meeting required standards have failed previous inspections in the past eighteen months.
Yesterday the Conservative Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt admitted there were “far too many” failing care homes that people would not be happy to send their relatives to.
CQC reports into Gold Care Homes reveal that:
* A resident at a Gold Care home in Hemel Hempstead was found lying in “a urine soaked bed, naked and unable to call for assistance”. There were faeces stains on the carpet of another resident’s bedroom while others were dirty and smelly. One person inspectors spoke to said the home was in “chaos” while another resident asked “why they were in prison”.
* Relatives reported an “unbearable smell” and inspectors found a lack of bathing facilities at one Battersea residence last November. The Home only had one shower and one walk in bath for the 30 people using the service. One resident told inspectors: “I would like a shower once a week but it doesn’t happen”. There was also a lack of one to one staff supervision at the home.
* At a third home, in Welwyn Garden City whose opening in 2009 was attended by the local MP, Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps, inspectors visiting in January 2014 noted that a resident “in visible distress” was not attended to by staff. Care workers were unable to identify the people in their care who had pressure sores and an old person at risk of developing sores had been left without the cushion designed to prevent them.
Inadequately trained staff and insufficient staffing numbers were frequently mentioned in the watchdog’s reports despite Gidar’s brother and business partner stating in an interview in 2013 that dementia training is a must for all care staff.
Asian of the Year
Ravinder — or Ravi as he is known — Gidar won the 2012-13 Asian of the Year award, prompting an acceptance speech in which he spoke about Gold Care Homes’ ethos of “providing care, nurture, respect and dignity within an environment that is both safe and stimulating”.
Since then many of his homes have been criticised by the care regulator, with failings in some institutions found on repeated visits.
Heath Lodge nursing home in Welwyn Garden City was fined £4,000 this February by the CQC for failing to have a registered manager in place.