Fernbank Nursing Home

Updated 6 May 2022

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector, one specialist advisor nurse and two Experts 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. One Expert by Experience contacted people’s relatives and friends by telephone to request their feedback and one Expert by Experience met and spoke with people living at the home.

Service and service type

Fernbank Nursing Home is a care home with nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We reviewed the action plan the provider had submitted and all subsequent updates. We also looked at notifications that the service had sent to the CQC. Notifications are information that registered persons are required to tell us about by law that may affect people’s health and wellbeing.

One Expert by Experience contacted relatives of people living at the home to gather their feedback on the quality of care people received. This exercise took place on 04 March 2022 and we spoke with 10 relatives.

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with the registered manager, the nominated individual, one nurse, one agency care staff and the activity co-ordinator. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We undertook observations of people receiving care to help us understand their experiences, especially for those people who could not talk with us.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 10 people’s care records and nine people's medication records. We looked at five staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including quality assurance and health and safety were also reviewed.

Following the onsite visit, we spoke with one nurse and four care staff. We further reviewed two care plans and associated records.

Updated 6 May 2022

About the service

Fernbank Nursing Home is a nursing home providing personal and nursing care to older people, some of whom were living with dementia. Fernbank Nursing Home accommodates up to 30 people in one adapted building. At the time of the inspection there were 20 people living at the home.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People were comfortable and well supported at Fernbank Nursing Home. Relatives told us that they were assured that their family member was safe and received good, person centred care. Safeguarding processes were in place to help protect people from the risk of abuse.

Risks associated with people's care had been assessed and guidance was in place for staff to follow to keep people safe. People were protected from the risks associated with the spread of infection. The service was clean and well maintained.

There were enough staff deployed to meet people's needs and ensure their safety. Appropriate recruitment procedures ensured prospective staff were suitable to work in the home.

Medicines were managed and administered safely.

Staff received the required training and support and applied learning effectively in line with best practice.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were seen to eat and drink well and were supported to maintain a healthy and balanced diet. People were supported to maintain healthy lives and had access to health and social care professionals where required.

Staff were caring and kind and relatives confirmed this. We observed staff responding to people's needs with dignity and respect.

There were quality monitoring systems and processes in place to identify how the service was performing and where improvements were required.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 24 March 2021) and there were breaches of regulations. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

At our last inspection we recommended that the provider assessed and addressed health and safety issues identified as part of the inspection. We also recommended that the provider apply best practice guidance when recruiting staff. At this inspection we found that the provider had acted on both recommendations we had made and had implemented the required improvements.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced focused inspection of this service on 21 January 2021. Breaches of regulations 9, person centred care; 11, need for consent; 12 safe care and treatment and 17, good governance were found.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective and Well-led which contain those requirements.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Fernbank Nursing Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.