Stockton Council-run care home 'requires improvement'

The Rosedale Centre hosted Stockton covid patients discharged from hospital during the height of the pandemic – and operates as a step-down facility to prevent admissions to wards. 

But inspectors from the Care Quality Commission have told the Stockton Council-run home it “requires improvement” after finding shortcomings in safety and leadership at the Marske Lane site. 

The probe found fire drills had not taken place since 2019 and records about the gas boiler’s servicing couldn’t be sourced. 

Inspectors were also not fully assured Rosedale was following safe infection control guidelines for covid – with records not always fully completed or in place.

The report added: “The provider had systems in place to ensure infection outbreaks were effectively managed. 

“However, staff were not following these systems, not all staff were wearing masks, either correctly or at all, and there were no full checks on people arriving at the service.”

The June visit also found workers felt they needed more staff to cope – especially at night. 

But there were some bright spots – with robust recruitment processes hailed while inspectors reported how residents and relatives were “very complimentary” about how Rosedale was run. 

A “real issue”

Stays are often brief at the Bishopsgarth home with capacity for up to 44 people before they’re moved on. 

A recent probe by the adult social care select committee praised Rosedale’s role in the pandemic – finding it had provided a “crucial alternative option” in 2020 when patients could not be accommodated in other care homes. 

However, there was concern about the CQC report from Cllr Lynn Hall at a heated executive scrutiny committee meeting on Tuesday (July 27). 

The Conservative member for Hartburn said it was a “real issue” that the home was having to enact an action plan on the back of the inspection.

She also believed the chair of the scrutiny committee should have known about Rosedale’s problems.

“Every councillor on this authority needs to be aware of that because this is our home – this is Stockton Council’s home and that’s how we use it,” added Cllr Hall. 

“We should be concerned about that and try to help in any way we can.

“I would have hoped the chair of this scrutiny committee would have said that we’ve done all this work, and things have improved – but one of the main pieces of the jigsaw, unfortunately, still has a long way to go.”

The intervention triggered an angry response.

Chairwoman Cllr Sylvia Walmsley said didn’t know about the report – going on to call Cllr Hall’s intervention a “personal attack”.

Cllr Hall responded – saying Rosedale had been mentioned by an officer in a previous meeting and believed it should have been brought up. 

But Cllr Evaline Cunningham, chairwoman of the adult social care select committee, added it had only been raised in a “private and confidential” informal meeting. 

Later, Cllr Walmsley revealed she’d be making a formal complaint about Cllr Hall. 

She added: “There have been wholly unwarranted and reprehensible attacks made in this meeting – which have been absolutely disgusting – dealing with private and confidential items, of which I could not possibly have been aware.

“Cllr Hall would have known that when she asked the questions.” 

After the meeting, Cllr Ann McCoy, cabinet member for adult social care, said they were very disappointed by the inspectors' findings and the council was taking urgent action to bring about improvements. 

She added: “We are increasing staffing levels for night shifts and we are also recruiting two new assistant managers, one focussing on the resident experience and the other on governance and safety.

“We have reissued the medication policy to all staff involved in the administration of medication and are following-up to make sure it is adhered to at all times, and we have taken steps to ensure all staff are aware of patients’ dietary requirements.

“We have also tightened up procedures relating to fire drills and record keeping for the servicing of appliances at the facility, though we can confirm that the gas boiler had indeed been serviced as expected.

“The service remains "good" in the areas of being effective, caring and responsive, has had positive feedback from residents and families, and inspectors reported finding no evidence that anyone had been harmed.

“However, we accept there is work to be done and we are wholly committed to bringing about rapid improvement.”

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

You can also follow our dedicated Teesside Facebook page for all the latest in the area by clicking here.

For all the top news updates from right across the region straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on newsdesk@nne.co.uk or contact 01325 505054