Care home and agency in special measures - CQC

A care home and care agency in Kent have been placed in special measures by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following inspections.

The White House in Chatham, run by Curant Care Homes Limited, is a residential care home for up to 38 people older people, some of whom have dementia.

Inspectors gave the home an overall "inadequate" rating in its safety, responsiveness and leadership.

Serena Coleman, CQC deputy director of operations in the south, said: "When we inspected The White House in March, we found poor leadership had led to a deterioration in the quality of care and this put people at risk of harm."

Ms Coleman said leaders "did not have a good grasp of the issues they were facing, or how to fix them".

"Our inspectors saw the home was visibly dirty and smelled strongly of urine and the smell was apparent in the carpets, chairs, pressure cushions and bedrooms," she said.

Ms Coleman added leaders said they were aware of the issue but did not address the situation appropriately.

Inspectors also noted the care home's effectiveness and care was rated as "requires improvement".

"Staff didn't always treat people respectfully or with dignity. We found residents sat in lounge chairs with wet clothes, and some staff were impatient with people when they needed support," Ms Coleman added.

Inspectors also found leaders lacked an oversight of people's care, care plans of individuals had insufficient details and recruitment checks were incomplete.

The CQC also noted residents were provided with "meaningful and varied activities" and were supportive of residents keeping relationships with family and friends.

Shaina Kumar, managing director of Curant Care Homes Limited, said her company bought the White House in June 2024 after visiting "briefly, a couple of times".

Ms Kumar said she didn't have enough time to "put things right" before the CQC visit in March 2025 as there were "many issues" after the sale went through, but had "continually invested in the home to make it compliant and safe".

"I am gutted for what has happened as we strived our best to make the White House care home [the] best home in Kent," she said.

"I sincerely apologise to community, our service users and their families for the inconvenience caused however I am sure we will turn this around as soon as possible."

In another inspection, the CQC rated Sambhana Care in Chatham as "inadequate" and placed it in special measures following an inspection in January.

Sambhana Care is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to adults living in their own homes.

The CQC said this inspection was a follow-up from two warning notices which it issued the service at its last inspection in July 2024 over concerns around people's safety and management.

Inspectors said these issues had not been fixed and some issues had "become worse" at the time of the inspection.

Tony Rana, managing director of Sambhana Care, said: "Since the CQC inspected our services, we have made significant changes across the organisation to ensure standards are raised with immediate effect."

CQC dropped the agency's rating in effectiveness, care, and responsiveness from "good" to "inadequate", while leadership was again graded "inadequate".

Ms Coleman said: "When we inspected Sambhana Care, we were deeply concerned to find a closed culture where leaders were actively dishonest and they encouraged staff to do the same."

Ms Coleman added when people had experienced harm, or made allegations of abuse, leaders had not investigated those incidents or reported them to the CQC or local authority.

Inspectors also reported the service did not always give accurate information to residents' relatives about their health or care, leaders did not learn from incidents to keep people safe and staff did not have sufficient training.

Mr Rana added management has been "transformed" by appointing an operations manager who has more than 30 years' experience.

"We have implemented a new robust training programme to ensure all staff comply with CQC standards, introduced new policies that are being adhered to, and implemented an action plan to ensure standards continue to improve," he said.

"Our priority is to provide personalised care, ensuring our clients are safe and well looked after in their own homes."

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