Abuse became ‘normal’ at Birmingham care home, finds watchdog

A care home in Birmingham has been heavily criticised by the care watchdog after it found physical and verbal abuse of residents with learning disabilities and autism had become “normal”.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said it had put urgent restrictions on Summerfield House, in Birmingham, to stop any more people being admitted there.

The home was looking after four residents with disabilities in August when CQC inspectors found a string of concerns. Records revealed episodes of physical, verbal and emotional abuse of the residents with staff making threats to cancel activities or threatening to call the police.

The CQC found staff were not able to recognise abuse, citing an example where inspectors saw a person being hit on the head by another person with no action being taken.

The watchdog’s report said abuse was happening between residents and staff.

Debbie Ivanova, CQC deputy chief inspector for people with a learning disability and autistic people, said: “Our latest inspection of Summerfield House found a truly unacceptable service with a poor culture where abuse and people being placed at harm had become normal, with no action taken to prevent incidents from happening or reoccurring."

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Source: The Independent, 28 September 2021