Overview

• Inspectors visiting Rodney House in June and July reported extremely unhygienic and unsafe conditions, with one resident showing evidence of mice living in a mattress, widespread filth, fly issues and unlabelled stale food.
• Exposed electrical wiring, trailing cables and damaged flooring were documented, creating risks of electrocution and trips, while smoking in bedrooms and communal areas had caused extensive burn damage.
• The CQC re-rated key domains to inadequate, identified eight breaches of legal regulations, barred new admissions without prior consent and placed the service in special measures.
• At the time of inspection there were 48 residents; all have since been moved into alternative accommodation, and the regulator cited leadership failures and slow responses to call bells as indicators of poor care.
• EBS Services Limited contests the ‘mice in a mattress’ account, says the mattress is under independent review, cites pest control assurances of no infestation and states the service had already closed after the local authority relocated residents.