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The Care Quality Commission (CQC), has downgraded the rating for The Moorings Retirement Home on the Isle of Wight from good to inadequate overall following inspections in April and May.
The Moorings Retirement Home in Cowes, run by The Moorings Care Limited is a residential care home for older people, some of whom are living with dementia.
Followed up on concerns raised
CQC undertook the inspection to follow up on concerns raised with it about the quality of care being provided to people.
Inspectors found a significant deterioration in care, and the service was in breach of nine regulations. These related to person centred care, the need for consent, safe care and treatment, safeguarding, premises and equipment, good management of the service, staffing, fit and proper persons and failure to notify CQC about incidents that affect the health, safety and welfare of people who used the service.
Four warning notices served
CQC has taken enforcement action by serving four warning notices to The Moorings Retirement Home, highlighting where CQC expects to see an action plan on how they will make rapid and widespread improvements.
CQC has rated The Moorings Retirement Home as inadequate for being safe, effective, caring and well-led. How responsive has dropped from good to requires improvement.
Placed into special measures
CQC has also placed the service into special measures which involves close monitoring to ensure people are safe while they make improvements.
Special measures also provides a structured timeframe so services understand when they need to make improvements by, and what action CQC will take if this doesn’t happen.
Cox: People’s dignity and independence was undermined
Neil Cox, CQC’s deputy director for Isle of Wight, said,
“Following our inspection of The Moorings Retirement Home, we found leadership failures had allowed poor practices to go unchallenged, placing people at risk and undermining their dignity and independence. Staff weren’t given the right direction, systems, or support to make sure care was safe or person-centred.
“Leaders failed to identify and report safeguarding incidents to the local authority and the CQC, even where the threshold for a referral had clearly been met. This meant risks to people’s safety weren’t properly addressed and other organisations couldn’t intervene when needed.
“People weren’t always given meaningful choice over their daily lives. We were concerned to hear reports of residents being woken as early as 5am, and during two early morning visits, we found several people already up in lounges before 6am. Although managers assured us this practice would stop after our first visit, we found it was still happening almost two weeks later.
“We also weren’t assured that people’s basic hygiene needs were always met. While some residents appeared well cared for, others had long, dirty nails, were unshaven, or wore soiled clothing. This isn’t acceptable in a place people call home.
“When people became unwell or went to hospital, relatives weren’t always informed in a timely way. We heard examples of family members only finding out days later that their loved one had been admitted to hospital. This meant people missed the chance to have the comfort and support of relatives during what could have been frightening experiences.
“The service didn’t always give people prescribed pain relief when they needed it. For example, a person with a pressure injury could have received 104 pain relief doses over a set period but was given only nine. Inspectors had to request pain relief be administered to this resident during the inspection.
“We’ve told leaders at The Moorings Retirement Home where they must make immediate and significant improvements, and we’re monitoring them closely to keep people safe while this happens.”
Inspectors found:
- Leaders did not consistently prevent avoidable harm or neglect. Staff did not always respond appropriately to distress and agitation, with at least five recorded incidents of physical intervention or restraint. In one case, staff removed a walking stick from a person at high risk of falls, increasing that risk.
- Inspectors found staff failed to provide essential care for a person with a condition that causes the muscles in their hand to tighten and become painful unless they receive the right treatment. Staff did not give regular hand care, administer pain relief, or make timely referrals. Records showed they hadn’t used the required hand support since August 2024 until our inspectors intervened in May 2025, and also hadn’t made referrals to the correct organisations to help.
- Leaders failed to work with people and healthcare partners. There was no focus on improving people’s lives or protecting their right to live free from bullying, harassment, abuse, discrimination, avoidable harm, and neglect. They did not share concerns promptly or appropriately.
- Care records detailed people’s communication needs and required equipment, such as hearing aids. However, inspectors observed people without necessary glasses or hearing aids, despite their care plans stating they were essential. One person’s hearing aid was surrounded by visibly unclean ears, which could block sound and reduce its effectiveness
- Staff were too busy to respond quickly to call bells, leaving some residents in pain and discomfort. The service had a poor culture. Staff lacked consistent support to build knowledge, share a vision, or improve people’s experiences.
- Staff did not recognise that language in some care plans was disrespectful and outdated.
- People with higher care needs had less access to meaningful activities, community engagement, and stimulation, increasing the risk of social isolation. Leaders hadn’t considered or removed barriers that stopped people from accessing the support they needed
The report will be published on CQC’s website in the coming days.
News shared by John on behalf of CQC. Ed