downsmail.co.uk Care home told to improve


A GOVERNMENT inspector who made an unannounced visit to a care home for the elderly in Maidstone has told the owner it requires improvements.


The Care Quality Commission reported that the Pilgrims Way Care Home with Nursing in Bower Mount Road was looking after 40 people when the inspection took place on June 16. In spite of residents having ac-


cess to qualified nursing staff, trained to administer medicines safely, and relatives describing the home as welcoming and friendly and staff compassionate and sup- portive, the inspector said areas still required improvement. The report noted the provider


was not following published guid- ance to assess and manage the risk of infection and emergency evacua-


tion procedureswere not clearly es- tablished and recorded. The report said: “Managers en-


sured that they had planned for foreseeable emergencies, but the plans in place were not detailed enough to ensure that, should an emergency occur, evacuation of the premises would be efficient.” The report added that while


there were sufficient nursing and care staff to meet people’s needs, the provider could not provide ev- idence that safe recruitment proce- dures had been followed. People’s carewas responsive and recorded but there was room for improvement.


The inspector wrote: “Staff up-


held people’s right to choose who was involved in their care and peo- ple’s right to do things for them- selveswas respected, but care plans did not always record that there had been a change in a person’s needs and were not always indi- vidualised.” An inspection of audit proce-


dures also showed some areaswere being missed and staff did not re- ceive supervisions or appraisals in line with the provider’s policy. Advice has been given to the


home regarding shortfalls relating to safety, which was deemed inad- equate and the effectiveness of the


Plenty of interest in growing group


MORE than 200 men and women have now joined the Maidstone U3A.


Since moving to its new meeting centre in the Salvation Army hall, Union Street, the group has grown rapidly, but there is still room for more.


U3A caters for the retired or semi-retired who have lively minds and would like to take part in out- ings and activities with similar like- minded people.


£500m to ease Stack pain


A STRATEGY costing nearly £500m for handling Operation Stack in Kent has been submitted to the Government.


The plan – put together by KCC, the Highways Agency, the police and others – includes a lorry park off the M20, improvements to the A20 and better signposting, but would still mean hold-ups on the M20 and the surrounding area. County councillor Jenny Whittle said it was now up to the Govern- ment to come up with the funding. She said: “Lorries driving through rural villages is a number one issue for me. I am being asked for ‘no HGV’ signs and weight limits at various locations. I understand even [people in] Willington Street is calling for a weight limit. As well as having these extra signs and re- strictions, we then need enough po- lice to enforce them.” Thurnham Parish Cllr Ted Den- ham said the signs indicating the low railway bridge in Ware Street were still being ignored by lorry drivers. He said: “Two lorries, with UK drivers, spent hours turning around at Averenches Road be- cause they had ignored the signs and couldn’t get under the bridge.”


The club has more than 40 inter- est groups, including short and long walks groups, bird watching, butterflies and geology.


One group arranges trips to places of interest across the county, making good use of the senior citi- zens’ bus pass, and several times a year there are outings to places of interest further afield. This year, the group had a week- end trip to Portsmouth Dockyard and the Isle of Wight and more re-


cently a visit to the war graves in France and Belgium. A monthly film evening is very popular, as is the screening of opera and ballet.


The whole group gets together once a month at the Union Street centre, where a guest speaker is in- vited to give a talk to members. Further details are available on www.u3asites/maidstone.org.uk. For more information, contact 01622 734298.


Fitness challenge for hospice


STAFF at Golding Homes have taken on a mammoth exercise chal- lenge to raise funds for the Heart of Kent Hospice. The 150-strong staff team was invited to walk, run, cycle or row as far as they could in a set time limit, with an overall aim to com- plete 300km as an or- ganisation – the equivalent of travel- ling from Maidstone to Bruges, in Belgium. The team smashed its target and travelled


333km, raising £500 in the process. The event was the launch of a programme of wellbeing activities, which will run to spring 2016.


Police to wear video cameras FRONTLINE police officers in


Kent will wear video cameras next year, after a £1.8m scheme was ap- proved by Kent’s Crime Commis- sioner Ann Barnes.


Kent Police began piloting 400 of the cameras in Maidstone, Medway and Thanet in late 2014, which en- abled officers to record interactions with suspects just like mobile CCTV. It was found that suspects routinely modified their behaviour because they knew they were being recorded.


Park rocks to


Social event MOTE Park’s final major music event of the year, the Social, at- tracted more than 10,000 people to a day-long party. Revellers were reported to have


travelled for the best club music, both old-school and new. Among the DJs playing were Jackmaster, Jamie Jones, Richy Ahmed and event organiser Nic Fanciulli. As with the recent debate over the Ramblin’ Man festival, local opinion was sharply divided, with some businesses such as hotels and supermarkets benefitting while those nearest Mote Park re- ported traffic and noise problems. In all, 23 complaints were made to Maidstone Council, eight of them specifically about noise. En- vironmental officers confirmed the music remained within the legal limits. A few arrests were made for drugs offences. The site was cleared of traffic


Mrs Barnes said: “This stops mali- cious complaints against officers and it stops officers being hurt.” She cited other benefits including improved evidence gathering, a re- duction in bureaucracy and an in- crease in guilty pleas from offenders. The initial cost of providing 1,600 more cameras will be £1.4million – which includes set-up costs as well as the cameras themselves – with a fur- ther £400,000 set aside to cover ongo- ing costs for the next three years.


before midnight and 400 residents were reported to have taken up of- fers of free tickets. With another event planned in the park next year, the organisers have vowed to reduce its impact on local people. The organisers have confirmed a


winter Social event at Kent County Showground, Detling on February 6, 2016.


Formore local news www.downsmail.co.uk


Maidstone Town November 2015 23


service, which the CQC felt re- quired improvement. It also ad- vised that the service was not always responsive and leadership could be improved, although the level of caringwas good. It concluded: “Staff had received training about protecting people from abuse and showed a good un- derstanding of what their roles and responsibilities were in preventing abuse. If people complained they were listened to and the manager made changes or suggested solu- tions that peoplewere happy with. “People told us that managers


were approachable and listened to their views.”


News


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56