Acton care home described as 'boot camp' rated inadequate in report

The owner of a care home in Acton for people with mental health needs, described as a "boot camp" in a recent report, has vowed to improve.

The Faraday House, Faraday Road, Ealing , was inspected on December 1 last year by Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors before the damning report rating it 'Inadequate' was published in February this year.

The CQC report said that the home had failed to submit applications to the local authority to "restrict people's liberty".

According to the report, comments from people using the service and their relatives included: "I don't like it. Would you, if someone told you to get up in the morning and 'do this, do that'? It's a boot camp".

Another commented: "It's no one else's business what I do outside the house. So why does [staff member's name] poke his nose in? He likes to know what you're doing during the day."

Residents' liberty restricted

The report adds: "They (Faraday House) told us one person using the service was at risk if they left the service without staff support.

"Care records showed the provider went to local shops with this person each morning and they usually went for a walk together in the afternoons.

"When we asked the provider what happened when only one member of staff was available to support three people, they told us, on occasion, the person who needed support to access the local community had to wait to go out.

"The provider had not recognised this was a restriction and there was no evidence they had applied to the local authority for authorisation, as required by the safeguards."

The report said: "The adaptation, design and decoration of the service did not meet people's individual needs.

"Walls in all parts of the service, including bedrooms, lounges, dining rooms and bathrooms needed redecorating.

"People's bedrooms were bare and there was no evidence staff had supported people to personalise their rooms."

Improvements on the way

Provider Runjith Gopal, who runs the home with Solony Gopal, said he was disappointed by the report but added improvements are under way.

Mr Gopal said they would be sending a letter to CQC within a week from Wednesday (March 16) outlining improvements.

He said: "We are working on improving the report. There was a small problem on the safeguarding and that has been sorted out.

"We were very disappointed (with the report), there are no major problems here, we are running a good home and we provide a good service."

The care home has now been placed into special measures, which provides a six-month time line for improvements to be made and, if they are not made within this frame, the home could be closed.