Archived: Oxton Grange Nursing Home

Updated 5 August 2015

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.

The inspection took place on the 25 March 2015. The inspection was unannounced and the inspection team consisted of an Adult Social Care inspector, a specialist advisor with experience and knowledge of dementia care and the Mental Capacity Act 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. We focused on talking with the people who lived in the home, speaking with staff and observing how people were cared for. We spent the afternoon and evening looking at medication, care plans and records related to the running of the service.

During our inspection we spoke with six people who lived in the home, five visitors, five care staff, the activities coordinator, a maintenance person, one domestic staff, the cook and kitchen assistant, the two unit managers and the registered manager. We observed care and support in communal areas, spoke with people in private, looked at the care records for seven people and looked at five staff records. We also looked at records that related to how the home was managed.

We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a specific way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

Before our inspection we reviewed the previous inspection reports and notifications of incidents that the provider had sent to us since the last inspection in November 2013. We also contacted the local commissioners of the service.

We requested information from the provider after the inspection. The information sent by the manager was the staff training matrix, staff rotas and induction training programme.

Updated 5 August 2015

The inspection took place on 25 March 2015 and was unannounced. Oxton Grange Nursing Home is registered to provide accommodation and nursing care to 60 people with dementia. There are 60 bedrooms and some bedrooms could be shared. All have private washing facilities.

The manager was registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

We last inspected the care home on 28 November 2013. At that inspection we found the service was meeting all the essential standards that we inspected.

Some people had lived at Oxton Grange for a considerable time and considered it to be their home, others had moved in more recently. There was a team of 21 staff on duty on the day of this inspection, nine care staff, the manager and two unit managers, the activities coordinator, the chef and kitchen assistant, three cleaners and the two maintenance people. All of the staff had completed induction training and received regular training by the provider.

The staffing levels were sufficient in all areas of the home at all times to support people and meet their needs and everyone we spoke with considered there were enough staff on duty.

The home used safe systems of recruiting new staff. They had an induction programme in place that included training staff to ensure they were competent in the role they were doing at the home.

People were able to see their friends and families when they wanted and there were no restrictions. Visitors were seen to be welcomed by all staff throughout the inspection.

The thirteen staff we spoke with were able to tell us the action they would take to ensure that people were protected from abuse. All staff had received training about safeguarding. We found that medicines were managed safely and records confirmed that people received the medication prescribed by their doctor. Records we looked at showed that the required safety checks for gas, electric and fire safety were carried out.

The six people we spoke with confirmed that they had choices in all aspects of daily living. Menus were flexible and alternatives were always provided for anyone who didn’t want to have the meal off the menu that was planned. People we spoke with said they had plenty to eat. The food we tasted was well presented and tasted good.

The seven care plans we looked at gave details of people’s medical history and medication, and information about the person’s life and their preferences. People were all registered with a local GP and records showed that people saw a GP, dentist, optician, and chiropodist as needed.

The expert by experience commented, “The home is well run and all of the people told me they were ‘safe, very safe’. I spent time talking to people and visitors who were all extremely positive about Oxton Grange Nursing Home. All staff were friendly and provided care in a respectful way. The lunch was good and people were happy with the food provided and there was plenty”.