Archived: Oaklea Nursing Home

Updated 30 June 2015

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection was unannounced and took place on the 18 May 2015. Due to concerns that were raised the inspection was undertaken by three adult social care inspectors and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of service.

The provider had completed a provider information return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

Before our inspection, we reviewed the information we held about the home for example notifications, safeguarding's and complaints and contacted the Commissioning & Development Officer at the Local Authority to obtain their views after their recent audit.

During the visit we spoke with 12 people who used the service, one relative, the registered manager, one senior care worker, five care workers, a cook, a housekeeper and the maintenance person. We also undertook general observations of practices within the home and reviewed relevant records. These included three people’s care records, two staff files, audits and other relevant information such as policies and procedures. We looked round the home and saw people’s bedrooms, bathrooms and communal areas.

Updated 30 June 2015

The inspection took place on the 18 May 2015. This was an unannounced inspection which meant that the staff and registered provider did not know that we would be visiting. We had also received concerns about the service regarding poor nutrition and hydration, poor care planning, poor privacy and dignity and poor environment and facilities.

The service was last inspected July 2014 and found to be compliant with the regulations we looked at.

Oaklea Nursing Home provides care and accommodation for up to 18 people. Accommodation is provided over two floors. All of the bedrooms were single and contained a sink. There were two communal lounges, a dining room and a conservatory on the ground floor of the home. The home is close to Linthorpe Village, shops, pubs and public transport.

At the time of inspection there were 12 people living at the service.

There was a registered manager in post who had been registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) since February 2011. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

We observed that the care workers were kind, supportive, and respectful to the people that used the service.

Assessments were undertaken to identify people’s health and support needs and any risks to people who used the service and others. Plans were in place to reduce the risks identified. We found care plans were wrote up to state how people wanted their care to be provided. However, where people requested unusual methods of care the care plan agreement was not signed by the person. We discussed this with the registered manager who was going to arrange to get these signed straight away.

Accidents and incidents were monitored each month to see if any trends were identified. At the time of our inspection the accidents and incidents recorded were too few therefore did not identify any trends.

We found people were cared for by sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, skilled and experienced staff. Robust recruitment and selection procedures were in place and appropriate checks had been undertaken before staff began work.

We found that medicines were administered appropriately. However, there were some gaps on the Medication Administration Records (MARs), some medicines were in bottles with unreadable labels and we questioned the storage of the medicine trolley being in the kitchen, due to the heat. We discussed our concerns with the registered manager.

We observed a lunchtime meal, these meals were flexible to suit the needs of the people who used the service. Meals were well cooked and the portions were plentiful.

The service was clean and we saw that there was plenty of personal protection equipment (PPE) available. However the environment was in need of refurbishment everywhere.

The registered manager had been trained and had a good knowledge of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). The registered manager understood when an application should be made, and how to submit one.

Staff received training to enable them to perform their roles and the service looked at ways to increase knowledge to ensure people’s individual needs were met for example in house training. However some mandatory training was a month or two out of date for some staff but the registered manager stated they were aware of this and was arranging updates where needed.

Staff had regular supervisions and appraisals to monitor their performance and told us they felt supported by the registered manager.

We saw there had been a complaint within the last 12 months that was currently being investigated by the service.

Staff were supported by their manager and were able to raise any concerns with them. Lessons were learnt from incidents that occurred at the service and improvements were made if and when required. The service had a system in place for the management of complaints. The manager reviewed processes and practices to ensure people received a high quality service.

We saw safety checks and certificates that were all within the last twelve months for items that had been serviced such as fire equipment and water temperature checks.

The registered manager carried out regular audits such as medicine audit, hand hygiene audit, mattress audit and health and safety audit.