‘This must never happen again’: ‘Culture change’ needed following damning report into care home closure

Wakefield Council reiterated its apology for the distress caused to residents, their family members and staff at Hazel Garth, in Knottingley, following the publication of a damning report.

The independent review said the closure “was not justified”, “must never happen again” and called for compensation to be paid.

The report, by Janet Waggott, a former chief executive of Selby District Council, also referred to a “blame culture” within the council’s adult services and health departments, with staff reporting bullying and being fearful of raising concerns.

The report also said senior councillors were “misinformed” over the circumstances surrounding the closure, and residents’ families “felt they had been lied to”.

Ms Waggott told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “This should not have happened.

“It is a very sad case that people have been caused such harm and stress.”

“It was very clear that people felt nervous about telling the whole story.

“They would if asked, but there wasn’t that culture there.

“There was such a turnover in adult social care during that period.

“There was a fear that if you spoke out you would lose your job.

“It was a horrible culture to be in. So there is work to do there.

“People didn’t feel able to say how it was.”

The report also says the decision to shut the facility was contrary to the council’s constitution as it should have been made by elected cabinet members.

Knottingley’s three ward councillors were also not informed of the closure.

Mr Waggott said “To think we could have local ward members who had not been told that something was happening on their patch as serious as closing a care home in the middle of a pre-election period is quite incredible.

“There are lessons to be learned for people to be more robust about challenging a decision that is so speedy and so unusual.”

Addressing the concerns, council chief executive Tony Reeves, who was appointed to the role in April this year, said: “At the core of this particular issue around culture is the role of senior management in an organisation.

“It’s not only about wanting good news and not wanting bad news and not wanting unwelcome advice.

“We want people to raise their concerns openly so that we can support them to deal with those concerns and make sure the council learns and continues to improve.

“That’s a big shift in the way the organisation is being led in officer terms.

“The culture change work we are doing is about empowering staff to raise concerns, in particular in adult social care.”

Mr Reeves continued: “If anybody is given an instruction that they are professionally not really comfortable with, if they don’t think it is the right thing to do, they will have an escalation route, rather than just having to keep quiet and get on and do things.

“It’s really, really important to get that in place.

“We had colleagues here who were very seasoned and experienced and very good professionals being told to do something that went against all of their professional instincts.

“We cannot allow that to happen in the future.

“Those people need to have the confidence and the appropriate processes to raise those concerns and get them dealt with, rather than blindly following a direct order that they felt was fundamentally wrong.

“That’s a really important part of our learning..

“I don’t believe there is a widespread problem of people being unable to raise problems across the whole council.

“Like any big organisation, we have strengths and weaknesses.

“I think we are very open and honest about where those weaknesses are.

“We have got some very significant strengths and very good services where, routinely, concerns are raised and properly addressed

“But there are pockets, like adult services, where the leadership culture there was not right.

“The report highlights that and that was apparent to us.”

Mr Reeves confirmed that families would be contacted to discuss compensation following publication of the review.

Council leader Denise Jeffrey said: “We have met the families again. We are doing everything we can to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.

“As soon as we knew there was a problem we called for the review.

“The report says we were misled. I’d go further than that. I believe we were lied to.”

Coun Jeffery added: “I’m deeply sorry to the residents, their families, and our staff at Hazel Garth for the impact this decision had on them.

“I’ve listened to some extremely distressing stories from the families.

“The extent to which we let them down is starkly set out in the independent report.

“And the seriousness of the failings underlines how this must never be allowed to happen again.

“I’d like to thank Janet Waggott for doing such a comprehensive job on the report, and to everyone who contributed to it.

“It makes for very difficult reading.

“But it now provides us with a basis to make decisive changes to how we care for our vulnerable adults, building on the first steps we’ve already taken.

“Only by continuing to be open, transparent and by implementing a clear improvement plan will we start to rebuild the trust of everyone in our care who relies on us.”

Michelle Collins, the council’s newly-appointed cabinet member for adults and health, said: “I think we need to be clear that the care delivered by staff to residents of Hazel Garth was second to none.

“Every single family is so complimentary about the staff, which is why it was so upsetting to residents and families that they had to leave.

“They were safe and secure and getting the best care. I think we need to be really clear that this is not a reflection of staff.

“They are an absolute credit to our service.”

Coun Collins added: “We give a cast iron commitment today to residents, their families, and to our staff that what happened at Hazel Garth will never happen again.

“We fully accept all of the recommendations from the review and will now be totally transparent about our improvement plan and how we move forward.

“We’re making fundamental changes to make sure we deliver the level of care our older people and their families want and deserve, and are determined to rebuild the trust of everyone we so badly let down at Hazel Garth.

Cabinet members will formally consider the review at a meeting on September 17, alongside an improvement plan setting out how the recommendations will be implemented.

Hazel Garth is expected to be reopen when buiding repairs have been completed later this year.