A CARE home in Winsford is in crisis after remaining in ‘special measures’ for the fourth consecutive inspection.

Morningside Rest Home in Swanlow Lane cares for elderly and vulnerable people, but has now been on the brink of being closed down by the government’s Care Quality Commission for more than 18 months.

During this time, four inspections have been carried out, with the first placing the service in ‘special measures’, and the following three showing that not enough improvement had been made to take the care home out of special measures.

According to CQC guidelines, when a care home is placed in special measures, it will be re-inspected within six months and if improvements are not clear, action to shut down the service will commence.

The latest inspection took place on June 8 and 11 and during the inspection, the manager and a number of staff left their roles.

It was given an overall rating of ‘requires improvement’ but an ‘inadequate’ rating for how ‘well-led’ the service is - one of the five key topics judged by the inspector.

In the inspection report, the inspector said: “At this inspection we found that improvements had been made in some areas, but not others.

“There was a registered manager in post for part of the inspection.

"However, following a previous inspection we carried out in August 2017 we issued a Notice of Decision to cancel the registered manager’s registration due to significant failings we had identified within the service.

"During this inspection our decision came into effect and the manager’s registration was removed.

“The registered provider had taken steps to recruit a new manager however these had not been successful.

"There were no clear arrangements in place to ensure effective management of the service whilst a new manager was being recruited.

“Morale amongst staff was low and this had been picked up by people using the service.

"One person made comments which showed they had been made privy to information about the internal politics amongst staff.

"This showed a lack of professionalism because staff had failed to put appropriate boundaries in place between themselves and the people they supported.

“Staff told us that they did not feel supported by management within the service or the registered provider.

"During the inspection a number of staff left the service as a result of feeling unsupported.

"This has been an ongoing issue which the registered provider has persistently failed to address.”