16 September 2014
During an inspection looking at part of the service
There were 14 people living in Canwick House Care Home on the day of our inspection. One person was in hospital.
We spoke with the provider, the cook, the housekeeper and two members of care staff. We also spoke with three people who lived at the service and one relative.
We considered the findings of our inspection to answer questions we always ask: Is the service caring? Is the service responsive? Is the service safe? Is the service effective? Is the service well led?
Is the service caring ?
People told us they were well cared and were happy living at the service. A relative said, 'The staff are good, you can't fault them.' One person said, 'I'm happy, I have my papers to read.'
However we saw that the provider had made decisions with regard to the care of people using the service which did not take into account their wishes or needs.
Is the service responsive?
We spoke with one person and their relative and found that they had not been involved in any discussions about what was in the person's best interest. We found that they had recently moved bedroom at the provider's request and the reason for this was not recorded in their care file. This action was not responsive to the person's needs.
Is the service safe?
We found that the medication fridge temperature recordings were out of the safe normal range needed to maintain medications that no action had been taken to correct this or to store the medication at a safe temperature.
We saw that previous concerns about care staff competency to safely administer medication had not been addressed. The provider was unable to show us evidence that staff had had their competencies checked.
We saw that a bath in one person's bedroom was being used inappropriately. We found a commode basin soaking in their bath. We noted that the service did not have sluice to enable the safe cleaning of commodes.
We found several fire doors were propped open. This meant that the fire doors would not close automatically in event of a fire and offer protection to people and staff.
Is the service effective ?
We saw that one person did not have their needs assessed and their care plans did not always address their individual care needs.
Is the service well led?
Staff told us the acting manager was approachable and they had seen improvements since they took up their post in 2013.
However we found that the provider had made decisions about care people received without involving the person or member of care staff.