Richard House Care Home

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

The provider had clear and effective governance, management and accountability arrangements. The provider had processes to ensure that learning happened when things went wrong. However, some care staff did not feel they were involved in hearing about learning. Staff and leaders had good understanding of what was required to ensure people’s care was safe and improvements were made when needed. Staff and leaders demonstrate a positive, compassionate, listening culture that promotes trust and understanding between them and people using the service and is focused on learning and improvement.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Staff and managers were able to tell us about the services and provider’s vision. We were told that they strive to provide the best possible care. The staff structure allows there to be adequate staff available. Staff are trained in all aspects of care. Staff told us the culture at the service had improved and that staff morale was good.

The provider has systems and processes in place to support the registered manager and the staff team. The management structure at the service and and the wider organisation ensured the provider had good oversight of the service. Team meetings addressed issues around culture, promoting staff to work together and be kind to each other.

Staff told us they felt supported by the management at the service. As part of our assessment, we spoke with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the provider. They told us that culture was a really important aspect of their role and that they had recognised that the culture under the former manager was not as they would expect it to be. Support had been put in place, with the regional manager taking on the role of manager until the appointment of the current registered manager.

The service had a registered manager and a care manager. Both managers were new to the service at the time of the assessment and had received a thorough induction. The management at the service told us they felt supported in their roles not only by each other but also by the CEO, Director of Data & insight and Quality & Operations Director. Staff had been supported to take on champion roles such as Infection control champion and medicines champion.

Staff told us there was an open culture at the home. That they understood the whistle blowing policy, they said they felt able to talk to managers should they need to do so.

The service and the provider had effective systems and processes in place to allow staff and people living at the service to speak up and voice concerns. This included daily meetings, whistle-blowing policy and you said we did. We saw evidence in team meetings of staff feeding back to managers and being listened to.

The registered manager told us that the service has a diverse workforce. They said that they were quick to respond when staff said that they did not feel welcomed by other staff members. We were told how the management team foster an inclusive culture where everyone was treated fairly.

The service had an equality and diversity policy. Managers ensured this policy was followed.

Staff and managers were clear about their roles and responsibilities and supported each other well to effectively carry out these roles and responsibilities.

The provider and the service had effective governance systems and processes in place. With daily reporting for the registered manager to complete. As well as weekly reports from the compliance manager for the registered manager to reply to. These reports had areas where the service was doing well as well as areas where improvement was needed. Peoples care plans were kept up to date with all relevant risks associated with that person’s care. There were audit processes in place and actions were taken following audits to ensure the quality of the service. For example, there was a weekly and monthly audit around call bells being answered. Where it had been identified that call bells were taking longer than expected to be answered during the night a meeting had been held with the night staff to discuss how improvements could be made and where needed supervisions with staff were undertaken.

Most people’s families told us that the service worked well with other services to ensure their loved one received the care they needed. There were some family members who said that they were not aware of how well the service worked with other services as they did not feel they were always kept informed.

Managers at the service told us that they had been working with GP’s and the district nursing team to improve relationships to ensure safe delivery of care for people at the service. Additionally, we were told the service has links with local primary schools and there had been a residents and staff against children football match that had been enjoyed by people living at the service.

Local authority commissioners told us the service worked well with other agencies to support people living at the service.

The service had worked with other services such as hospitals, GP’s and social workers to ensure safe effective admissions processes were followed. We could see that the service wanted to ensure improvements in relationship with G.P’s were sustained as they had planed in future meetings in order to embed the improvements.

Some care staff we spoke with were not aware of systems and processes in place to ensure learning was feedback to all staff groups. They felt learning from incidents and accidents was feedback to senior care staff only.

The provider and service had processes and systems in place to ensured that learning was used to improve the quality of the service and shared with staff. There were monthly summaries around lessons learnt, which were shared at team meeting such as senior carer meetings and heads of department meetings. Registered managers met with other registered managers to share learning across the organisation.