Inside Sussex's worst care home: Priory Rookery Hove

Priory Rookery Hove, which looks after young adults on the autistic spectrum, has been put into special measures after health inspectors found a catalogue of shocking errors.

The Sackville Gardens home has been given the lowest possible rating in every single category used to rate a service, the only care home in the county to do so.

In a damning report by health inspectors, who visited in November, the private service part-funded by the taxpayer was branded as unsafe, uncaring, ineffective and poorly led.

When contacted by The Argus, the care home has blamed its own residents for the poor report and said it would be given a higher rating once “some individuals” were removed.

Although the home aims to promote independent living for those on the autistic spectrum, staff said they have received little training in dealing with the disorder and some residents have remained at the home for more than ten years. 

Police are regularly called out to the home, which has violent incidents, and staff are being cut with razor blades. 

Peter Kyle, MP for Hove and Portslade, said it was “shameful” that vulnerable people had been subjected to the service and has now written to the owners, Priory Education Services, demanding action.

Care Quality Commission inspectors found residents and staff are not safe and are at risk of avoidable harm. 

Files revealed serious incidents and accidents were happening repeatedly, several people have been taken to hospital and police are regularly called to residents who left the home to harm themselves. 

Staff regarded incidents as “inevitable” and harm to people is “accepted rather than managed”.

Inspectors said people are not being protected from the risk of infection. 

Bathrooms and communal rooms smell of urine, toilets are not clean and staff members, who have been cut with razor blades, are worried they could be getting infections. 

One staff member revealed: “[we] physically intervene when people have razor blades and have been getting cut, there’s no support and we do not learn from mistakes. 

“They say we will be given training, but we don’t. We don’t know what infections we could potentially get.”

Staff said they have received no training and, in some cases, feel as if they are “guessing” when it comes to mental health care. Walls and doors have dents and chipped paint, there are broken radiators and missing curtains mean people can see into the home from the street.

One smashed window, which had been boarded up at the time of the last inspection in January 2019 had still not been fixed by the time inspectors visited again in November, ten months later.

And despite complaints, sharp metal objects are protruding from the walls, “leaving areas of the home unsafe”.

Staff with no training in cooking or nutrition are making meals as a chef has only been hired for three days a week. One resident told inspectors that they liked to drink cola, eat crisps and listen to the radio. “That’s my life now,” they said.

Police who are “regularly” called out to the home have expressed concerns to staff.

One staff member said that “because we are not a secure unit if people try to abscond, the police wonder why we are not adapting the environment to make it safe enough”.

Additionally inspectors found people are not always cared for or treated with respect. They said staff were misgendering residents as they have had no transgender awareness training.

Many residents, who are not getting on with each other, are distressed and “triggered by others at the home”, said the inspectors.

Both the home and the CQC have received complaints but many remain unresolved. These include people making threats to others in the home, with staff regarding the threats “as something to be recorded but not acted on”.

The health watchdog said the service was not meeting people’s needs and some residents were questioning why they were there and whether they would leave.

Some residents had ideas to own their own property, however staff saw them as unrealistic.

Inspectors said morale was low, there was little training in specific mental health needs and some residents had remained at the home for more than ten years. This is despite the home’s expressed aim to prepare people to move into a home of their own.

Inspectors also found widespread and significant shortfalls in service leadership, which they branded “inadequate”.

Staff, who are unaware that management was doing anything about repeated violent incidents, said some workers “lost the heart for the job” after being involved in “nasty stuff”.

Following the visit in January 2019, the home was told it was breaching a regulation on safe provision of care and treatment and must address this immediately.

On returning in November, inspectors concluded no improvement had been made and the home was now in breach of six others.

Report is 'shameful' and 'highly upsetting', says MP

MP Mr Kyle said: “It’s shameful that vulnerable people have been subjected to a service this poor.

“The crisis in our social care system is worsening and I fear this is only the tip of the iceberg unless there is root-and-branch reform and proper investment. No vulnerable person should ever be treated in such a way.

“Reading the report is highly upsetting and I am genuinely worried about the health of the staff and the residents of this home. Today I’ve written to the owners to demand that the problems are tackled immediately before someone is seriously injured.

“Latest accounts show that the group which owns the home had an income of £796.6 million, so I hope to see that some of that is ploughed into fulfilling the promise on their website ‘to deliver the highest quality of care and support’.”

The home is in Brighton and Hove City Council’s Westbourne ward.

The ward councillor, Chris Henry, said: “This home is owned by the most profitable mental health hospital provider in the country.

"It’s time now that we hear them say how they are going to value their staff and residents by putting money into this service to bring it up to a standard where the chief executive himself would work here or place a family member in their care.”

Blaming residents

WHEN contacted by The Argus, the care home blamed its own residents for the poor report. 

A spokesman for the home said: “We are very disappointed with the findings of the inspection report, some of which were beyond our control.

“Commissioners and CQC are fully aware of the unique challenges the home has been facing in relation to managing complex behaviours that emerged following admissions to the home.

“We are already making progress and are very confident that once appropriate alternative placements have been found for some individuals, we will be able to implement our robust improvement programme in full and the home will quickly return to its previous rating of ‘good’.”

What are 'special measures'?

SPECIAL measures is a process by which the Care Quality Commission (CQC) attempt to improve an inadequate service. 

To do this, the health watchdog provides a clear timeframe within which the care home must improve. 

Normally, this is within six months.

Failure to improve the service could lead to the shutting down of the care home. 

CQC will provide a framework, within which it will use its enforcement powers to work with, or signpost to other organisations in the healthcare system, to help it improve.

The service must inform its patients that the service has been placed in special measures.

Priory Rookery Hove was rated inadequate in all five of the tests used to judge a service’s performance. 

To be taken out of special measures, the home will have to demonstrate to inspectors that it is no longer inadequate in any of the tests.

The service will be taken out the measures even if the service receives the second lowest grade, “requires improvement”. 

A CQC spokesman said: "If the service has any rating of inadequate in the five key questions or core services at the inspection six months after being in special measures, we will begin the process of taking action to prevent the provider from operating the affected service”