Lincoln care home in special measures after claims residents ‘deprived of liberty’

A care home for people with autism and other learning disabilities has been placed under special measures by the CQC after an inspection found residents at risk of being “unlawfully deprived of their liberty”.

The Phoenix on St Helens Avenue is a residential care home, providing support to people living with learning disabilities and autism in Lincoln.

The home is run by Linkage Community Trust and offers personal care to up to six people, but it faced a CQC inspection in August, which was followed by the publishing of a damning report on the site in November.

Inspectors looked at the areas of safety, effectiveness and leadership levels during the inspection, and found enough evidence to drop its score from good to inadequate.

CQC inspectors say the service requires improvement for effectiveness and inadequate for safety – placing The Phoenix in special measures until further notice.

Debbie Ivanova, CQC’s director for people with learning disabilities and autistic people, said that the standard of care “deteriorated significantly” since the last inspection at The Phoenix.

She said: “People’s safety and wellbeing needs weren’t always being met, and risks weren’t effectively managed.

“It was concerning that people at the service didn’t always feel safe. There were times when people experienced distress and incident records showed that they had retreated to their bedrooms as they were scared.

“Two people at the service had complex needs, one person’s needs were medical, and the other needed support when they became distressed.

“With only one member of staff available during the night, there was a risk that they wouldn’t able to meet the needs of each person which placed them at risk of harm.”

While at the home, inspectors found that risks associated with service users care and support were not always identified, and medicine records did not always contain necessary information.

Managers are also accused of not being able to identify that some people living at The Phoenix required Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards authorisation, as well as not considering people’s views or need for someone to advocate for them.

Debbie Ivanova at the CQC continues: “People’s views or need for someone to advocate for them were not always considered prior to decisions being made about them.

“For example, we saw on inspection that managers hadn’t followed the principles of the Mental Capacity Act, or involved family and key workers, when making decisions about a person.

“We will continue to monitor The Phoenix closely to ensure people are safe. If we are not assured people are receiving safe care, we will not hesitate to take action.”

A spokesperson for Linkage Community Trust said: “At the time of the inspection by CQC the standards being delivered did not meet either CQC or Linkage guidelines.

“Our primary concern is the safety and welfare of our clients and we are continuing to work closely with our staff team, CQC and local authorities, to ensure that good standards of safe and effective care are being delivered. I am confident the changes we have made and continue to make will support this.”