A warning notice has been sent to GB Healthcare Group Ltd for failing to meet the regulations in relation to ‘good governance’ at Hebburn Court.

The CQC inspected the home at The Old Vicarage, Witty Avenue, Hebburn, on October 9, 10 and 24 after receiving reports about poor care. It will closely monitor the home and do a second inspection within six months. 

This is the full report:

Our view of the service

Hebburn Court provides accommodation with nursing and personal care for up to 55 people. 31 people were using the service when we visited, some people were living with dementia. This unannounced assessment was due to whistle blowing concerns about poor care and significant events at the home. We visited the home on 9, 10 and 24 October 2024 and found breaches of the regulations relating to safe care and treatment, person-centred care, safeguarding, safe premises, consent to care, duty of candour and good governance. Ineffective leadership had led to significant shortfalls, placing people at risk of harm, including poor record keeping, ineffective risk management, not reporting and investigating serious allegations of abuse and delays in renewing some DoLS. Actions were outstanding from the last fire risk assessment and the electrical installation safety inspection. As well as fire safety and evacuation concerns. Risks associated with the environment had not been managed. Medicines were not handled safely. Staff did not support people appropriately when they displayed distressed behaviours. The provider had not sought appropriate consent for restrictions on people lacking capacity, such as for bedrails and CCTV use. Care plans were not person-centred, accurate or up to date. Falls, incidents, accidents and allegations of abuse were not effectively analysed. The provider had appointed an interim management team who had developed an action plan and were overseeing improvement. The service has been placed into special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure that services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provide a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide.

People’s experience of this service

Although people and relatives were generally happy with the care and people felt safe, our assessment found significant shortfalls in people’s care. People did not receive care that promoted their safety, wellbeing or dignity. Although some staff were kind and caring and treated people with respect, this was inconsistent. People living with dementia lacked meaningful stimulation and engagement. People did not have opportunities to participate in meaningful activities. People living with dementia did not receive person-centred and dignified care, including suitable footwear, support with oral healthcare or meaningful activities. Some people did not receive the support they needed to eat safely.

* We served a warning notice GB Healthcare Group Ltd on 24 December 2024 for failing to meet the regulations in relation to ‘Good governance’ at Hebburn Court.

Ratings

• Overall – Inadequate

• Safe – Inadequate

• Effective – Requires improvement

• Caring – Requires improvement

• Responsive – Requires improvement

• Well-led – Inadequate

Source: https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-13773098295/reports/AP6883/overall

Patients dying in corridors, lack of equipment and unsafe practices are the findings of a new RCN report documenting the experiences of more than 5,000 NHS nursing staff.

Almost 7 in 10 (66.8%) respondents to an RCN survey said they’re delivering care in over-crowded or unsuitable places – such as corridors, converted cupboards and even car parks – on a daily basis.

Demoralised nursing staff report caring for as many as 40 patients in a single corridor, unable to access oxygen, cardiac monitors, suction and other lifesaving equipment. They report female patients miscarrying in corridors, while others said they cannot provide adequate or timely CPR to patients having heart attacks.

More than 9 in 10 (90.8%) of those surveyed said patient safety is being compromised.

RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger said: “This devastating testimony from frontline nursing staff shows patients are coming to harm every day, forced to endure unsafe treatment in corridors, toilets and even rooms usually reserved for families to visit deceased relatives. Vulnerable people are being stripped of their dignity and nursing staff are being denied access to vital lifesaving equipment. We can now categorically say patients are dying in this situation.”

A nurse working in the South East region said: “We’ve had cardiac arrests in the corridor or in cubicles blocked by patients on trolleys in front of them, delaying lifesaving CPR. Despite these ‘never-events’, we still are obliged to deliver care in the corridor.”

More than a quarter of nursing staff surveyed said they weren’t told the corridor they were providing care in was classed as a “temporary escalation space”, as described by the NHS in England.

This means risk protocols and additional measures may not be in place to ease pressures and protect patients.

Nursing staff also report cancer patients being put in corridors and other inappropriate spaces. In the South West region, a nurse said: “It was a cancer patient whose immunity was very low because of her treatment. She should’ve been in a side room. She was very upset and crying. We put screens around her but she was in the path of the staff room and toilet, so it was constantly busy. That poor lady eventually passed away.”

The RCN report follows a letter sent to the Westminster government and NHS England from an RCN-led coalition, calling on officials to publish how many patients are being cared for in corridors and other inappropriate places.

Nicola added: “The revelations from our wards must now become a moment in time. A moment for bold government action on an NHS which has been neglected for so long. Ministers cannot shirk responsibility and need to recognise that recovering patient care will take new investment, including building a strong nursing workforce.”

The RCN’s full report can be downloaded here.

Chris McCann, deputy chief executive at Healthwatch England said: “These devastating stories shared by nurses in the report by the RCN echo experiences that people tell us about. This includes a 75-year-old who spent 15 hours in an A&E corridor chair, eight hours on a trolley in a storage room and a further two hours in a ward corridor before finally being admitted.

“We applaud nurses for calling out this undignified and unsafe practice. Patients say they’re witnessing stressed and overstretched staff who are valiantly trying to cope with these extreme pressures.

“As a first step, we’re joining with other organisations in calling on the government to commit to transparency on the true extent of corridor care by ensuring figures are published for each hospital on the number of people being held in corridors or other inappropriate spaces.

“We need to know how many patients are affected, why and for how long and the extent to which people are harmed as a result. This would help inform the new emergency care plan being developed by the government.

“The plan must also look at other NHS pressures that impact on hospital care, such as a lack of timely GP appointments, and hospital discharge delays due to problems arranging ongoing social care for people, which stop beds being freed up for new inpatients.”

Source: https://www.rcn.org.uk/news-and-events/news/uk-corridor-care-devastating-testimony-shows-patients-are-coming-to-harm-160125

Five of the ten most visited health conditions on the NHS website last year mostly affect children, with three of them seeing significant increases compared to 2023.

Visits to the hand, foot and mouth disease page increased by 46% on the previous year – moving it from 14^th place to the third most viewed page in 2024 (2.8m visits compared with 1.9m in 2023). Symptoms include mouth ulcers and a raised rash of spots on the hands and feet.

Slapped cheek syndrome saw the biggest increase of the top 10 conditions with visits more than tripling. The condition, which can see a rash develop on children’s cheeks, was the fourth most visited page of 2024 – rising by 220% from 830,000 visits in 2023 to 2.6m last year.

Scarlet fever was another newcomer to the top 10 list in 2024, taking tenth place with 1.9m page visits – up 33% from 1.4m in 2023. The infection mostly affects young children and symptoms include a rash which looks like small, raised bumps and starts on the chest and tummy.

There were also 2m visits to advice on rashes in babies and children in 2024 and another 2m to the page on chickenpox.

The advice on Covid-19 and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms remained the first and second most visited health conditions overall, with 3.7m views for COVID-19 and 3.6m for ADHD.

The pages on high cholesterol, chest infections and urinary tract infections also appeared in the top 10 list for 2024.

The NHS is reminding people to use the NHS website for advice on treating winter health conditions, including when to visit a GP or other NHS services, after figures published on Thursday showed that there were an average of 5,408 patients a day in hospital with flu last week, including 256 in critical care – 3.5 times higher than the same week last year (1,548 w/e 7 January 2024).

A number of trusts this week have declared critical incidents, citing exceptional demand caused by the colder weather and respiratory viruses. Covid, RSV and norovirus cases remained high with more than 1,100 patients in hospital with Covid every day last week, as well as 626 patients with norovirus – up almost 50% on the same week last year (424). There was also an average of 72 children in hospital with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) every day, up 47% from last year (49).

Duncan Burton, Chief Nursing Officer for England, said: “The nhs.uk website is available whenever you need it and these latest statistics show how useful it is for millions of people every year, especially for parents needing to check advice on their children’s health.

“We saw a significant increase in visits to the pages on several childhood illnesses in 2024 – including hand, foot and mouth disease and slapped cheek syndrome – and the website includes helpful guidance on how to treat children at home as well as when to visit a GP or access other services.

“I hope millions of people will continue to use the NHS website throughout 2025 to help them stay as healthy as possible.”

The 10 most viewed health conditions on the NHS website in 2024 were:

1. COVID-19 (3.7m)
2. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (3.6m)
3. Hand, foot and mouth disease (2.8m)
4. Slapped cheek syndrome (2.7m)
5. High cholesterol (2.2m)
6. Urinary tract infection (2.2m)
7. Chest infection (2m)
8. Rashes in babies and children (2m)
9. Chickenpox (2mi)
10. Scarlet fever (1.9m)

The NHS website, which is managed by NHS England, is the UK’s biggest health website with 701m visits throughout 2024 from people seeking information and advice.

It includes over 4,000 pages and provides information about 990 medical conditions. Other health services available on the website include applying for a free UK Global Health Insurance Card for healthcare cover abroad and finding a GP.

Cohens Chemist at The Medical Centre in Gibson Court, Boldon Colliery, will from this week open at 9am, not 8.30am as previously.

The full new opening hours are:

Monday – 9am to 6pm
Tuesday – 9am to 6pm
Wednesday – 9am to 6pm
Thursday – 9am to 6pm
Friday – 9am to 6pm
Saturday – CLOSED
Sunday – CLOSED

It is still open five hours in addition to its contracted hours, from 1pm to 2pm each weekday.

The Melissa Bus is being used across the North East and North Cumbria by the NHS to offer healthcare advice and wellbeing initiatives in community areas.

On Wednesday January 15, it will be at Hebburn Central from 9am to 3pm.

Healthcare professionals will be on hand to offer advice and support to people on a range of lung-related health conditions.

The event aims to bring in the expertise of South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust’s assessment of breathing clinic (ABC) and acute respiratory assessment service (ARAS).

The Melissa Bus – Mobile Educational Learning Improving Simulation Safety Activities – is a double decker bus that has been designed to deliver healthcare education and training across the North East and North Cumbria.

It calls in at town centres and community centres to provide a ‘pop-in’ service for local people who may need help and advice on medical issues.

There is no need to make an appointment.

During its visit to Hebburn, it will also welcome the local Breathe Well Group Association, Talking Therapies and First Contact Clinical, which is a community interest company based in the borough and supports people with their health and wellbeing.

An NHS spokesman said: “The Melissa Bus is aimed at making it easier for people to seek advice on medical issues and we look forward to people in Hebburn calling in next week.”