A ‘luxury’ care home with private ensuite bedrooms has received a critical report from the watchdog following a recent inspection.

Richmond Village Letcombe Regis near Wantage was rated ‘requires improvement' - the second lowest rating possible- by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The Care Quality Commission is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.

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Concerns were raised about patients being at an ‘increased risk of abuse’ and that there were ‘not always enough staff to meet people’s demands in a timely manner.’

The inspectors were called in after they received concerns relating to the use of equipment, management oversight and falls.

The report, released on July 11, reads: “Not all known risks had been assessed and mitigating strategies recorded.

“For example, people with epilepsy did not always have the type of seizure they experienced recorded and people with mental health needs did not always have the details regarding how to mitigate the risk of harming themselves.

“People were at risk of potential abuse.

“When a person had an unexplained injury, the registered manager had not always completed an investigation to identify the potential cause and to put mitigating factors in to reduce the risk of reoccurrence.”

Richmond Village Letcombe Regis is a retirement village with the care home forming part of the main building.

The care home can accommodate up to 53 people in two units, but at the time of the inspection on May 31 there were only 34 patients at the service.

According to their brochure: “The care home at Letcombe Regis is spacious and bright making it easy to navigate with wheelchairs and frames.

“Private en-suite bedrooms are stylishly appointed with state-of-the-art profiling beds to ensure maximum comfort and so we can administer care around you easily.

“There is a lovely lounge and dining room to spend time in and a dedicated activity room for arts, crafts, games, quizzes and get togethers.”

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The inspectors also found that there were not always sufficient staff to meet people’s needs.

The report continued: “The call bell audit identified on numerous occasions staff were unable to respond to people due to 'all staff attending to another person.'

“For example, the weekly audit evidenced between May 19, 2023 and May 25, 2023, there were eight occasions when staff took longer than 10 minutes to respond to people due to not enough staff being on shift.”

Richmond Village Letcombe Regis were contacted for comment on the latest inspection report. 

Philippa Kellar, managing director for Richmond Villages Letcombe Regis said: “We are committed to providing a safe environment, with the best quality care and services for our care home residents, and are rated as ‘Good’ by the CQC in three out of five inspection areas; Effective, Caring and Responsive.  

“Prior to the inspection we had already taken action to further increase our staffing levels and had increased our recruitment efforts to build our talented, caring team.

"Since the inspection, we have put together a robust action plan.

"This includes refreshed training for our teams on falls management, safeguarding, enhanced supervision and ensuring all records are kept up to date.

"We have also put in place a new Village management team to oversee improvements and uphold our high standards, including a full review of our systems and processes.

“We are proud of the care our people give every day to our residents and are committed to driving improvements so that all residents feel safe and supported with us.”