Dover care home where resident was found choking plunged into special measures

One resident at a Kent care home choked on their food and needed first aid a number of times, while another was found with blood and a bruise on their nose, according to the Care Quality Commission (CQC). White Cliffs Lodge in Dover for people with mental health needs, learning disabilities and autism, was rated “inadequate” by the CQC which put it in special measures.

Many breaches of legislation governing care homes were found during the inspection in March. White Cliffs Lodge in Primrose Road will be kept under review and re-inspected in six months

Inspectors had gone into the care home, which also has seven of its residents in their own self-contained flats, after the CQC was alerted about “concerns” about the risk to residents’ safety and health.

Read more: 13 care homes in Kent were rated ‘inadequate’ by inspectors

They discovered a resident found with a bruised and bloodied nose had not been reported on an incident form nor reported to the local safeguarding team. And one resident in a “number of incidents” had choked on their food and needed first aid, including after one time a staff member was not giving them “one-to-one attention”.

Staff were not supporting residents who needed to do physio, including one who needed to do it three times a day to prevent chest infections, said the report. However, inspectors said the home was doing enough to prevent and control infections, was following hygiene practices and admitting people safely to the service.

Some of the residents’ rooms were “were bare and did not look or feel homely” and some did not even have curtains or blinds in their windows. But staff were seen by inspectors being “kind and caring” to residents.