Romsey residential care home in breach of legal regulations

Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors found that Marika House in Stoneymarsh, Michelmersh, Romsey, had significant issues during its inspection from August 19 to September 1.

The service provides support to people with learning disabilities and autism, with seven residents living in the home at the time of the inspection.

The report stated that residents were not supported to eat healthily and were not always engaged in meaningful activities.

The provider’s internal monitoring systems "failed to identify all of the concerns we found during this inspection and robust action had therefore not been taken to make improvements".

However, the registered manager and provider were noted to be motivated to improve the service and had begun addressing these shortfalls during the inspection.

While staff were trained to keep residents safe, the report indicated that the service did not always support individuals to manage their health and wellbeing effectively.

For instance, one resident had been advised to follow a specific diet in 'recently reviewed documents', but was still given foods that 'were no longer safe for the person to eat'.

The overall diet of the residents was described as unhealthy, containing a high amount of processed foods.

The CQC noted that the service had a proactive culture of safety and that staff treated residents with kindness and respect.

However, feedback from relatives was mixed, with some expressing concerns about the quality of food and the lack of meaningful activities.

One relative commented: "My relative is happy, and the new manager is making progress," while another raised issues regarding nutrition and weight gain.

The new registered manager, who had been in post for two months, was actively working on improvements and had devised a new four-week menu plan that aligned with healthy eating principles.

The service was rated as 'requires improvement' by the CQC, a downgrade from its previous rating of 'good'.

A spokesperson for the home's owner, Liaise, said: "The recent CQC inspection report for Marika House rates the service as requires improvement overall.

"We received good ratings in safe, caring and responsive, and the report mentions that we have appointed a new manager who has been taking action to make improvements, but we recognise the need to do better in effectiveness and leadership.

"We regret falling short of our high standards in these areas and are committed to addressing the issues identified.

 "We would like to assure the people whom we support, as well as their families and friends, that we take these matters very seriously and are making progress against our action plan."