Archived: Flowerdown Care Home

Updated 28 March 2018

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 the 9 and 13 November 2017 and was unannounced. One inspector and an expert by experience carried out the inspection. 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 that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed previous inspection reports and notifications we had been sent by the provider. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law.

We received feedback from one healthcare professional and one social care professional who had links with people living at the home. During our inspection we looked around the premises and observed the interactions between people using the service and staff. We spoke with four staff who worked at the home. We spoke with the registered manager.

We looked at documents that related to people’s care and support and the management of the service. We reviewed a range of records which included four care and support plans and daily records, staff training records, staff duty rosters, staff personnel files, policies and procedures and quality monitoring documents.

The service was last inspected in July 2014 and was Good in each of the domains, therefore good overall.

Updated 28 March 2018

Flowerdown Care Home provides accommodation for up to 48 people who require nursing, respite or end of life care and some people who were living with dementia. The home is located in a residential area of Winchester. There is a car park located at the front and there are gardens to the rear and side of the property. The accommodation is arranged over two floors and there is a lift available for accessing the first floor.

This inspection took place on 9 and 13 November 2017 and was unannounced.

A registered manager was employed by the service who was present 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.

The registered manager was dedicated and passionate in their role. They knew people’s needs well and were prominently involved in the day to day running of the service. There were sufficient numbers of staff who were friendly and patient in their approach with people. Staff understood about people’s preferences, routines and the support they needed to maintain important relationships.

People (affectionately) referred to the home as ‘shabby chic’ but the atmosphere “buzzing yet calm”. There were plans to refurbish the home in the Spring 2018; everyone said they had been included and kept up to date with what is going to happen.

Staff were aware of their responsibilities in keeping people safe from harm and treated people with dignity and respect. People were encouraged to be as independent as possible and the service provided a range of individual activities to keep people stimulated and active.

All staff we spoke with put the people living at Flowerdown at the centre of everything they did. We saw examples of very good relationships between people, their relatives and staff. Relatives told us the staff knew their relative "very well" and had made then feel "included in their relatives care". People responded with happiness to staff spending time with them.

People were assisted by the use of technology and creative ideas from staff to enable them to make their wishes a reality.

Staff understood the need to gain consent and followed legislation designed to protect people’s rights and freedoms. Staff understood people’s individual needs and were able to make adjustments to ensure these needs were met. Where people received care at the end of their life, they were fully consulted and given choices about the care they wanted to receive.

Appropriate checks were made before staff started to work to make sure they were suitable to work in a care setting. Once in their role, staff benefitted from training, induction and programme of supervision, which helped staff remain effective.

Risks to individuals were assessed and monitored. When incidents took place, the registered manager reflected on the events to ensure learning was embedded for future practice. People were supported to access healthcare services when required. The service had a very good track record of working with different stakeholders in order to ensure people’s needs were met.

People were monitored and encouraged with their eating and drinking where required and concerns about their health were quickly followed up with referrals to relevant professionals.

There was a complaints policy in place which people felt comfortable using if they had concerns.

Management and quality assurance systems were in place to drive continuous improvement and the service .