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A Bolton care home has been found to have improved, but is still in breach of the law. Heaton House Care Home has been found to still require improvement by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The Greenmount Lane care home was visited by the watchdog three times over the course of a year, in February last year, then September/October, and most recently in January this year.
For the February and autumn inspections, The Bolton News wrote how the home put its residents "at risk of harm", with multiple improvements needed. Last week the CQC released their report from the January inspection. The report said that while there had been improvements regarding "safe care and treatment, premises and equipment and staffing", it was found to still be in breach of other legal regulations.
The report said: "The assessment was completed to check if improvements had been made following our previous assessment in September 2024, where we identified four breaches of legal regulations. "At this assessment we found continued breaches of legal regulations relating to good governance. Medicines were not managed safely.
"Governance processes had not identified all issues we identified, audits required adapting to ensure they were fully effective, and record-keeping was not always contemporaneous or accurate. Read more: Care home still in breach of regulations as some residents go without medicine Read more: Bolton care home slammed for leaving residents ‘at risk of harm’ Read more: GP surgery branded 'not safe' and placed in special measures "The provider was previously in breach of legal regulations relating to safe care and treatment, premises and equipment and staffing. "Improvements were found at this assessment and the provider was no longer in breach of these regulations.
" Heaton House was given "requires improvement" ratings for being safe, effective, responsive and well-led, but got a "good" ranking for the caring category. To see the full report, click here: https://www.cqc.
org.uk/location/1-13030336540/reports/AP9072/overall The report added: "As issues with medicines were largely related to record keeping, they now fall under good governance, rather than safe care and treatment. "Risks relating to the environment had been adequately assessed and mitigated.
"Staff received sufficient training , support and supervision, to ensure they could carry out their roles safely and effectively. "Improvements had been made with activity provision, seeking people’s views and involving them in their care. "The provider was also now formally assessing how many staff were needed to meet people’s needs safely, which had resulted in an increase in staffing levels.
"We received positive feedback about the current home manager and the work they had done to make improvements." The report added some positive testimony from residents and their relatives, including: “I feel happy and safe here” and “I've had no problems. The staff are always obliging and kind”.
Staff were described as "kind and considerate", and those who had worked at the service for some time had developed positive relationships with people. Heaton House declined to comment..
