Parkland House

Updated 1 June 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection team consisted of an adult social care inspector and one 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. The area of expertise for this expert by experience was in caring for older people and dementia care.

Service and service type:

Parkland House is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and personal care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.

Notice of inspection:

The inspection was unannounced and took place on 4 and 7 March 2019.

What we did:

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service and the service provider. The registered provider 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. We looked at the notifications we had received for this service. Notifications are information about important events the service is required to send us by law.

During the inspection we spoke with eight people who were able, to gather their views about the care they received. We spoke with eight relatives and as most people were living with dementia we spent time observing their care and interactions with staff in the communal areas. We looked at records, which included four people's care and medicines records. We also looked at a range of records about how the service was managed. We spoke with the registered manager, the deputy manager, the regional director, the clinical director, the clinical nurse lead, the provider and administrator. We also spoke with nine members of staff including the activity co-ordinator, as well as kitchen and housekeeping staff. We spoke with and received feedback from two professionals who visited the home.

Updated 1 June 2019

About the service:

Parkland House is a care home which provides accommodation and nursing care for up to 52 older people, including people living with dementia. At the time of our inspection 51 people were living at the home. The provider, Peninsula Care Homes Limited, also operates a nursing home and three further residential homes in the South West.

People's experience of using this service:

People received an outstanding, personalised, caring service. People told us they received very kind and respectful support from staff who promoted their abilities, knew them well and genuinely enjoyed their company. The whole staff group worked as a team to support people in a person-centred way.

People were valued and placed at the centre of the service. Staff promoted people's privacy and dignity and enabled them to make choices and have as much control and independence as possible building meaningful relationships.

We saw a great number of very positive compliments and praise received by the service from people, their families and friends and healthcare professionals. Feedback included, ““Yes, there’s a lot of one to one with staff. [Person’s name] gets it especially when they are feeling down”, “They are very well staffed so they can care for people really well” and “[Person’s name] has dementia. They can cry a lot and wanders about at night, but staff let them sit where they want and don’t try to coerce them back to bed. They just go with it.” Relatives all praised the consistent staff team. Relatives described staff as sensitive, kind and loving, especially when people were poorly or on return from hospital.

People received effective care and treatment from competent, knowledgeable and skilled staff who had the relevant qualifications to meet their needs. The provider had a good system to ensure all staff had regular training to keep them up to date with best practice. Training methods were relevant to the people living at the service and staff ensured they put learning into practice as well and making training links to share their own knowledge with outside agencies.

Activities were provided seven days a week and offered a wide variety of relevant and meaningful activity both inside and outside of the service. Staff got to know people and ensured activities were enjoyed and meaningful using past interests and bucket lists to enhance people’s lives individually and in groups.

The service was specifically adapted for people living with dementia. People were encouraged to be as active, occupied and engaged as possible. All the staff had been provided with dementia training and were highly skilled in responding to people’s needs. For example, encouraging involvement in household chores and activities as well as learning from people themselves.

People benefitted from having a number of people including young children and students spend time with them and excellent links with the community. This helped raise the profile of good dementia care and challenged pre-conceived ideas of living in a care home.

The registered manager and staff went above and beyond to support relatives to spend positive time with their family member, including at the end of their lives.

People had access to plenty of food and drink throughout the day and there were individualised meals according to their tastes and needs. People told us the food was very good and there was plenty of choice. Meals were appetising and served in a calm and organised manner, creating a sociable and pleasant meal experience. People all knew who the chef was and enjoyed chatting about their tastes, whilst staff promoted a cooking club, sweet shop and kitchen skills to promote healthy appetites.

The service was very well-led. The provider's quality assurance processes were effective and there was a focus on continuous improvement and continuously seeking out ways to offer personalised care and leisure time. This ensured people felt valued as individuals. The registered manager provided very good support for staff to be able to do their job effectively. They, and the provider, acted as passionate advocates and role models, especially promoting and embedding good quality care for people living with dementia in and outside the service.

More information is in Detailed Findings below.

Rating at last inspection:

Good overall

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up:

We will monitor all intelligence received about the service to inform when the next inspection should take place.