A special committee is being formed to oversee a Liverpool Council-run care home plunged into special measures. Inspectors found “widespread and systemic concerns” affecting the quality, safety and governance at Brushwood House in Speke in July this year.
After a litany of failures were identified during three days of inspection, the home was deemed inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). 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 is now establishing a task and finish group to oversee the future of the home. In September, senior care officials apologised to families and residents for the culture of “apathy and fear” that was prevalent in the home.
Liverpool Council took over the site in July 2024 after Southport-based Bloomcare indicated it would cease its operation. Anne Marie Lubanski, corporate director for adult social care, issued an apology to the families and residents at Brushwood.
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”. 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.
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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.
She added that “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.
A task and finish group led by committee chair Cllr Nathalie Nicholas is now to be established to have oversight of an improvement plan. It will hold a maximum of four focused meetings and submit its recommendations to the adult social care and health scrutiny 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 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.”
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