Colchester's Maple House placed in special measures by CQC

Maple House, in Berechurch Hall Road, has been downgraded from good to inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). 

Inspections in September and October were prompted following concerns about the alleged use of “unsafe physical restraint at the home”.

Following the inspection, the care home, which is run by Maple Health UK Limited, was downgraded and found to be inadequate in the safe, effective, caring, and well-led categories. 

The home cares for autistic people and people with learning disabilities. 

Serious - The care home will now be under the watchful eye of the CQC and must make improvements quickly (Image: Google Maps)

An inspection report has now been published from the CQC following the investigation which took place on September 28 to October 4.

During the investigation, the CQC discovered leaders hadn’t booked staff training on the use of physical restraint due to financial reasons.

There was a poor culture among staff and there were allegations of bullying, violence, and sexual misconduct. 

Inspectors also found staff hadn’t raised serious concerns about people’s care to external authorities and leaders had not notified the CQC about serious safety incidents. 

Maple House will now be kept under review by the CQC and re-inspected to ensure that progress is being made.

Rebecca Bauers, CQC’s director for people with a learning disability and autistic people, said: “When we inspected Maple House we were deeply concerned to find people being disproportionately and often unlawfully restrained because leaders didn’t ensure staff had the skills or training to care for people safely and compassionately.

“We’ve raised urgent concerns around the unsafe use of physical restraint to the provider, local authority safeguarding team, and police to ensure people are kept safe.

"We stand by our public commitment to ensure that reducing restrictive practices, and promoting positive cultures, is everyone’s business.  

“We’ve told the provider exactly where improvements are needed and will closely monitor the home to make sure people are being cared for safely during this time.

"We’re also taking further regulatory action which we’ll report on when we’re legally able to do so.” 

Maple House's Director, Deepali Oza, said the organisation is committed to making vast improvements across the board.

He said:  "We accept that we have failed to act in accordance with best practice guidance.

"We believe that our actions taken so far and the actions going forward will ensure that this does not happen again, we act in accordance with best practice guidance and protect service users by putting them at the centre of everything we do."