Senior leaders have apologised to the families for the standard of care at Brushwood House in Speke
Brushwood Care Home in Speke
Brushwood Care Home in Speke(Image: Liverpool Echo)
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Senior care officials have apologised to families and residents at a Liverpool Council care home where a culture of “apathy and fear” contributed to a damning inspection. The ECHO revealed earlier this month how Brushwood House on South Parade in Speke has been deemed inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after a litany of failures were identified during three days of inspection this summer.
Alongside Millvina House in Anfield, Brushwood opened in 2019 and was one of the first city council-built care homes for 25 years. The local authority took over the site in July 2024 after Southport-based Bloomcare indicated it would cease its operation.
Inspectors found “widespread and systemic concerns” affecting the quality, safety and governance of the service while opportunities to learn from incidents, complaints and safeguarding concerns were “frequently missed.” Anne Marie Lubanski, corporate director for adult social care, issued an apology to the families and residents at Brushwood. She said the action taken by the authority would also apply to its sister home Millvina.
Staff from the CQC have undertaken an inspection at Millvina in the past fortnight, the director confirmed. A date for its release is as yet unknown.
Bloomcare, which took over the homes when they were threatened with closure in 2021, indicated it no longer wished to run the homes and gave notice to end its contract. Last year, the council stepped in to provide nursing services directly after Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust indicated it could no longer do so beyond an initial six month contract.
It is now provided by PC24. Ms Lubanski confirmed she had met with the families prior to and following the publication of the report to go through the improvement plan.
Anne Marie Lubanski
Anne Marie Lubanski(Image: Liverpool Echo)
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She added how “significant work” was going on across staffing at the home. Investigations remain ongoing into what went wrong at Brushwood and officials will report back each quarter to the committee.
Brushwood House is a care home registered to provide nursing and personal care for up to 60 people. At the time of the assessment in July, 39 people were living at the home.
Among the number of issues identified were including dirty baths, toilets, falls mat, kitchen equipment, windowsills and furnishings. Kitchenettes on three units were visibly unclean, with accumulations of dirt, staining and food debris on appliances, walls, kickboards, bins and cleaning equipment.
Cllr Angela Coleman, cabinet member for adult social care, added her own apology to the families concerned, who she described as “front and centre” of the council’s thoughts. She said: “We are deeply sorry for what’s happened.”
The committee heard from the daughter of a couple who live at Brushwood. She described the report as an “understandably hard and shocking read” which “should not have happened.”
Cllr Angela Coleman, the new Liverpool Council cabinet member for adult social care
Cllr Angela Coleman, Liverpool Council cabinet member for adult social care
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The woman, who asked not to be named, said the findings “have to be taken seriously and acted upon urgently.” She added how while Brushwood was on an improvement journey, she had wanted to remove her parents from the home prior to the city council took control two years ago.
She said staff at the home had taken the time to get to know her parents “as people, not just residents” and she did not regret the decision to continue with the home. The woman added how the council had “inherited a horrendous position” and must be allowed to work to turn it around.
However, this must take the form of “real and sustained changes,” she said. Ms Lubanski told the committee how no new admissions had been taken at the home since the inspection, which she described as the “right thing to do.”
The director admitted the home had “gone backwards” in its progress and staff had left the site. She said: “That’s what I’d expect in terms of holding people to account.”
Ms Lubanski also conceded the council should not be in the position of relying so heavily on agency staff and would look to create its own bank of workers needed during times of short availability. She said action had to be taken “in five to six months” to turn the home around including ending a culture of “apathy and fear” among staff.
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The director added: “I’m confident what we’re doing now and what we’ve got in place that we will make the changes with the staff, families and residents.”