Archived: Windy Knowe Nursing Home

Updated 9 March 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.

We visited the home on the 14 and 15 January 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 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. The second day was spent looking at medication, care plans and records related to the running of the service.

During our inspection we spoke with ten people who lived in the home, five visitors, five care staff, two nurses, the maintenance person, two domestic staff, the cook and kitchen porter, the deputy manager and the manager. We observed care and support in communal areas, spoke with people in private, looked at the care records for five 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 October 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 9 March 2015

The inspection took place on 14 and 15 January 2015 and was unannounced. Windy Knowe Nursing Home is registered to provide accommodation and nursing care to 40 people with dementia. Some bedrooms are shared and some have their own en-suite 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 31 October 2013. At that inspection we found the service was meeting all the essential standards that we inspected.

Some people had lived at Windy Knowe for a considerable time and considered it to be their home, others had moved in more recently. There was a team of 15 staff on duty each day, five care staff and one on induction, four nursing staff, including the manager and deputy manager, two kitchen staff, two cleaners and the maintenance person. All of the staff had completed induction training and received regular training by the provider.

We had some concerns about the staffing levels and whether they were sufficient in all areas of the home at all times. We also had some concerns about infection control and how this was managed. We discussed our concerns with the management team.

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 there were no restrictions. Visitors were seen to be welcomed by all staff.

The 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.

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 always had plenty to eat.

The five care plans we looked at gave details of people’s medical history and medication, and information about the person’s life and their preferences.

The expert by experience commented:

“People were happy with the staff and the care provided. I spent time on both floors and staff were friendly and provided care in a respectful way. The lunch was tasty and the pudding was most enjoyable. People were happy with the food provided and there was plenty”.