Carer told woman she could leave when dead

A worker at a care home told a resident who repeatedly asked to go home that she would leave when she died, according to an inspection report.

It was one example of staff speaking to people in a derogatory way at Saxon Lodge in Canterbury, which has been placed in special measures after inspectors found a series of failings, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said.

The report, published on Thursday, said medicines were not managed safely, food was not in line with people's requirements and people who were distressed were not kept safe.

Recently appointed care home manager Rebekah Gifford said staff were committed to working with the CQC.

Catriona Eglington, CQC deputy director of adult social care in Kent said: "We found a culture where people's needs weren't being met and where leaders consistently failed to listen to people and to act when concerns were raised."

She said staff did not have guidance to support anxious or distressed people, adding workers did not know how to handle one person in distress and frightened other people around them.

Relatives were called to the home in Western Avenue, Bridge, sometimes during the night, to calm people because staff did not know what to do, she added.

"In one distressing example, when someone repeatedly asked when she could go home, a staff member told her she would get to leave the home when she died," she said.

The report said one person told inspectors: "A lady asked when she would go home, staff told her this was their home. When the lady asked when she would leave, staff told her when she died. This upset her and me."

Inspectors who visited in July, when 21 people were living at the home, said instructions for managing medicines were unclear and records were incomplete.

One resident needed their food pureed but staff gave them puree that was still lumpy, putting them at risk of choking.

People often spent their time watching television or walking around corridors, lacking meaningful engagement, the CQC said.

Staff told people not to sit beside one person who kicked out at people, leaving that person isolated.

The CQC has begun taking regulatory action, which the care home can appeal against.

In a statement, Gifford said: "We recognise the seriousness of the current situation and are committed to working openly and constructively with the CQC, our residents, their relatives and our staff to address the areas requiring improvement.

"Our focus remains on ensuring residents receive safe, compassionate, high-quality care and that their dignity, wellbeing and individual needs remain at the heart of everything we do."

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