Yew Tree Lodge care home inspected after serious incident

A mental health care home in Reading has been inspected following a serious incident that resulted in a person’s death, according to the national body that checks the quality of social care services.
Yew Tree Lodge in Redlands Road has 13 long-term places and three crisis beds for people with mental health needs. Previously it was rated ‘Good’ but following an inspection on 29 January, it was rated ‘Requires Improvement’.
Findings of the inspection were made public on 11 April 2019, by the Care Quality Commission, which checks and officially rates care homes.
The CQC said: ‘This was a focused inspection that was prompted by a serious incident that resulted in a person’s death. As the death is currently being investigated, we did not look at this specifically during the inspection.’
The inspection report states that people using crisis beds at Yew Tree Lodge ‘did not have sufficient risk assessments in place to detail how staff were to support them and keep them safe, on admission’. By the second day of the inspection, the manager ‘had mitigated all risks, and ensured all paperwork was up to date and relevant to people’ the report adds. Residents of the home ‘reported feeling safe and well supported by the staff team’.
The CQC said it would continue to monitor all information it received about the service to inform its ongoing assessment of the home’s risk profile.