Llanyravon Care Home closes after concerns over care

Torfaen Council has now announced that residents at Llanyravon Care Home in Llanfrachfa Way have been moved to alternative placements and the home has now closed for good.

The Argus has reported on numerous concerns regarding the home over the past couple of months, including one resident 90-year-old Patricia Parfitt who broke both her legs falling out of bed – she died 16 days later.

Patricia Parfitt in hospital (Image: Kathryn Rimmer)

Patricia Parfitt in hospital. Picture: Kathryn Rimmer

She was reportedly ringing the toilet buzzer for nearly two hours.

A spokesperson for Torfaen council said: “I can confirm that all residents at LCNH were moved to appropriate alternative placements and that the home has now closed.”

Inspectors from Care Inspectorate Wales made the decision to de – register Llanyravon Court Nursing Home on November 14, 2022.

The home run by Golden Care, which had a food hygiene rating of one, was ordered to take action to improve issues around cleanliness, kitchen hygiene, and staffing levels, as well as medication management, and governance systems and processes, by the end of October - CIW concluded that not enough progress has been made.

Outside Llanyravon Care Home (Image: Street View)

Outside Llanyravon Care Home. Picture: Street View

In response to questions put forward by The Argus in October the council admitted that no new residents were being admitted "at this point".

The Argus has reported multiple stories of residents and their families concerned about the standard of care at the home. 

Among the concerns about the care home reported by The Argus include one resident saying they ‘were frightened', one woman developed open ulcerated sores on her legs and the worrying standard of food and care.

Open ulcerated sores on one woman's leg (Image: Anonymous)

Open ulcerated sores on one woman's leg. Picture: Anonymous

Ian Johnson also raised his concerns over the treatment his father-in-law received. Mr Johnson saw a buzzer with a wait time of over an hour, and claimed the coffee area was filthy. He said: “They would turn up and give him a sandwich – if it wasn’t for the cancer he probably would have died of malnutrition.”

Waiting times (Image: Anonymous)

Waiting times. Picture: Anonymous

Key points from CIW’s inspection report:

The inspection report was broken down into the following sub – headings.

Well – being:

• People are not always protected from abuse and neglect.
• During the inspection we noted the standard of cleanliness was poor and there were health and safety hazards.
• Overall, the arrangements the Responsible Individual (RI) has in place to oversee the service are not robust enough to always protect people from neglect.

Care and support:

• Medication is not always dealt with in the safest way.
• We noted medication had not always been administered as prescribed.
• They did not give staff clear instruction on how to communicate effectively with them.
• In one instance, we observed a person had not eaten their breakfast.

Environment:

• We observed the environment was not always as safe as it could be.
• We saw rooms which should be locked were unlocked, damaged wires, equipment not stored correctly, and televisions not secured on walls or units.
• We noted risks of cross contamination because of poor hygiene and cleanliness standards.
• Relatives told us, and we noted, the home has a food hygiene rating of one which means major improvements are required.

Leadership and management:

• Safe staffing arrangements to meet the care and support needs of individuals are not in place. For example, there is a high reliance on agency nurses who are not sufficiently familiar with people and with the systems and processes in place.
• There are not sufficient domestic staff deployed to ensure the required hygiene standards are always maintained.

The report recognises throughout that staff were caring and attentive.