Care home back on track following safeguarding action

Council officials have recently visited a care home to see the progress made since a major safeguarding intervention a year ago.

Shropshire Council and its safeguarding partners served an immediate improvement notice at Hillcrest Manor care home, near Minsterley, in July 2013 because of concerns relating to standards of care and staffing.

Since then the owners have made major improvements, and a subsequent inspection by the Care Quality Commission in October 2013 found that standards were back to acceptable levels.

Shropshire Council reinstated its contract for care services with Hillcrest Manor in May 2014 and the home now has 19 residents – 12 of whom are placed by the council.

The council’s director of adult services, Stephen Chandler, visited the home in August 2014 to meet the new management team and see for himself how things had turned around.

Stephen Chandler said:

“We’ve been impressed with the work that has taken place at Hillcrest Manor in the past year, so I wanted to come and see how much progress had been made.

“It was nice to chat to some of the residents, and members of their families, and it was clear they felt safe and secure.

“Outcomes like this are exactly what we want to achieve through safeguarding processes, so it was satisfying to see that this care home is very much back on track.”

The home’s new management team of Tracey Griffiths and Jill Lyons explained how they had made improvements to the home’s systems to ensure that residents’ safety was assured.

Tracey Griffiths confirmed:

“The team at Hillcrest have worked extremely hard to ensure the home is fully compliant from a regulatory perspective.  It is pleasing that the home is now accepting new admissions and meeting the needs of the local community.”

She added:

“We are grateful for the ongoing support from the council, and moving forwards intend to retain strong relationships with all key stakeholders.”