Archived: Roman Wharf Nursing Home

Roman Wharf Nursing Home provides accommodation for up to 24 people who need personal or nursing care. There were 22 people living in the home at the time of our inspection, most of whom required nursing care.

The registered provider’s area manager was acting as the home manager and had applied to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Throughout this report we refer to this person as ‘the manager’. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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.

At our comprehensive inspection on 26 and 28 November 2015 there were breaches of legal requirements related to staffing levels, the management of risk to people’s health, safety and welfare, nutrition and hydration arrangements and the monitoring the quality of the services provided. At our focused inspection on 8 June 2016 we found that the registered provider had taken appropriate actions to ensure they met the legal requirements. At this inspection we found they had maintained the improvements they had made.

CQC is required by law to monitor the operation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and to report on what we find. DoLS are in place to protect people where they do not have capacity to make decisions and where it is considered

necessary to restrict their freedom in some way, usually to protect themselves.

In most cases the manager and staff were following the guidelines of the MCA and DoLS. However we noted that a small number of best interests decisions had not been recorded in the right way. In addition, we found that recent quality assurance checks had not identified these shortfalls. We also found that a small number of healthcare records were not up to date and again recent quality assurance checks had failed to identify this.

Other quality checks had been carried out regularly and had clearly recorded any shortfalls. They had also recorded the action taken to address any shortfalls identified.

Staff knew how to keep people safe. The registered provider had systems and policies in place to help people stay safe from the risk of abuse. Risk assessments were carried out and regularly reviewed in order to avoid preventable accidents.

Medicines were managed in a safe way. There were enough staff on duty to provide the assistance and care that people needed. Appropriate checks had been completed before new care staff had been appointed.

People were supported in the right way. They had enough to eat and drink and could access appropriate healthcare professionals when they had need. They had choice and control over the way they lived their lives and they were treated with respect and dignity.

People were encouraged to pursue their hobbies and interests and there were a range of social activities available for people. The manager agreed to act upon comments we received about access to the community and the amount of social activity available for people at busy times of the day.

People had opportunities to say how they would like the home to develop and were encouraged to say how they would like the home to be run.

People felt confident to raise any concerns they had and there was a system for resolving complaints in a timely and fair way. Staff were also supported to speak out if they had any concerns.

We undertook this focused inspection on 8 June 2016 in order to check whether the registered persons had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met the legal requirements. At this inspection we found that the registered persons had made improvements in all of the areas we had identified and in line with their plan.

This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Roman Wharf Nursing Home on our website www.cqc.org.uk .

Roman Wharf Nursing Home provides accommodation for up to 24 people who need personal or nursing care. There were 23 people living in the home at the time of our inspection. All of them were older people and most of them were receiving nursing care.

There were arrangements in place to ensure risks to people’s health and safety were identified and managed appropriately. People were assisted to avoid the risks of skin damage and those associated with poor moving and handling practices.

People were supported to have enough to eat and drink in order to promote good health and improvements in recording systems assisted staff to monitor people’s nutrition and hydration more accurately. However, improvements were still needed to the way in which food options and their availability were promoted.

The registered persons had employed enough staff and deployed them appropriately to ensure people’s care needs could be consistently met. Systems were in place to regularly monitor staffing levels within the home so as to ensure they remained appropriate to people's needs.

The registered persons had systems in place to identify shortfalls in the quality of services provided and plan for continuous improvement within the home.