Archived: Avenue House - Wolverhampton

Updated 12 March 2019

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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 took place on 11 December 2018 and was unannounced. The inspection was carried out by two 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 care service.

Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form the provider completes to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this information into account to inform our findings.

We checked the information we held about the service and the provider including statutory notifications. This is information about important events which the provider is required to send us. We reviewed information about the service provided from the local authority commissioning team.

We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We spoke with eleven people who used the service. We also spoke with the registered manager, a senior care the cook and three care staff. We spent time observing how staff interacted with people in communal areas, observed medicines being administered and how people were supported with their meals. We looked at five people's care and medicine records to include daily monitoring records. We viewed two staff recruitment files, the registered provider’s audits, training records, complaints and accident records and the results of the provider’s surveys.

Updated 12 March 2019

We carried out this unannounced inspection on 11 December 2018.

Avenue House is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to 21 older people who may be living with a diagnosis of dementia. On the day of the inspection there were 16 people living at the home. Avenue House is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

At our previous inspection in November 2017, we identified improvements were needed to the management of medicines and the deployment of staff. We rated the service as 'requires improvement' overall.

This inspection was to check that the provider was taking the necessary action to improve the quality of care to people. During this inspection we found that improvements had been made to the systems in place to manage people’s medicines. We also found staff were deployed more effectively at peak times to respond to people’s needs.

There was a registered manager who was in attendance throughout the inspection. 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.

People told us they felt safe living at the home. We saw staff understood how to recognise and report harm or abuse. Risks to people’s safety were managed. There were some staff vacancies but sufficient staff were available to meet people’s needs. Arrangements to manage people’s medicines had improved. The home environment was kept clean and hygienic.

People’s needs were assessed to ensure these could be met. Staff had relevant training to help them meet people’s needs effectively. Staff sought people’s consent and people were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. People had access to facilities that met their physical needs but further consideration of signage to support people with dementia was needed. People’s nutritional needs were met and they were offered choices of meals. People had access to health care professionals when they needed this.

People described staff as caring and kind and said they were respectful. Staff protected people’s privacy and dignity.

People were involved in deciding their care and this was responsive to people’s specific needs. People had access to activities and there were some positive examples of contact time improving people’s well-being. People felt happy to approach staff with any concerns or complaints. People’s end of life needs was being considered to ensure they had appropriate professional support and that their wishes are known.

People were happy at the way the home was run. There had been a turnover of staff and the registered manager was working to recruit to vacancies. The registered manager had systems in place to check the quality of the service and was aware where improvements were needed such as staff supervision. People's feedback was sought but improvement in capturing this was needed. The provider worked in conjunction with other agencies to provide people with effective care.