Archived: Cloneen Care Home

Updated 15 March 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check 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 17 January 2017 and was unannounced. This meant the registered provider and staff did not know we would be visiting. Second and third days of inspection took place on 18 and 30 January 2017, and were announced. The service was last inspected in June 2016 and was meeting the regulations we inspected at that time. The inspection team consisted of an adult social care inspector 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 reviewed information we held about the service, including the notifications we had received from the provider. Notifications are changes, events or incidents the provider is legally obliged to send us within required timescales.

The registered provider was not asked to complete 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 contacted the commissioners of the relevant local authorities and the local authority safeguarding team to gain their views of the care provided by Cloneen Care Home. We received feedback from the local authority and also from the police, both of whom raised concerns about staffing levels at the service.

Some people using the service had limited verbal communication but were able to communicate in other ways. During the inspection we communicated with five people who used the service. We looked at two care plans, medicine administration records (MARs) and handover sheers. We spoke with seven members of staff, including the registered provider, the manager and care staff. We looked at two staff files, which included recruitment records.

Updated 15 March 2017

This inspection took place on 17 January 2017 and was unannounced. This meant the registered provider and staff did not know we would be visiting. Second and third days of inspection took place on 18 and 30 January 2017 and were announced. The service was last inspected in June 2016 and was meeting the regulations we inspected at that time.

Cloneen Care Home provides care and accommodation for up to 15 older people and/or older people living with a dementia. Cloneen is a converted Victorian house in a residential area of Saltburn. There is a communal lounge and dining room on the ground floor of the home. The service is close to shops, pubs and public transport. At the time of our inspection nine people were using the service.

There was a manager in place but they were not a registered manager and their role had recently been changed to that of a full-time care assistant. However, as well as their new care role they were still responsible for managing the service. The manager was only able to carry out their management role in their own time. 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.

Before the inspection we received feedback on the service from the local authority, who raised concerns about staffing levels at the service. We were also contacted by the police, who raised similar concerns. Our judgment following inspection was that staffing levels were not sufficient as too few staff were deployed to administer medicines at night, to allow staff to have proper breaks and to properly supervise people requiring two to one support.

The registered provider’s recruitment processes reduced the risk of unsuitable staff being employed. Risks to people using the service were assessed and plans put in place to reduce the chances of them occurring. Regular checks of the premises and equipment were made to ensure they were safe for people to use. Plans were in place to support people in emergency situations.

Safeguarding policies and procedures were in place to protect people from abuse. People’s medicines were managed safely.

People were not always supported to access external healthcare professionals to monitor and promote their health. Staff received the training needed to support people effectively and were supported through regular supervisions and appraisals with the manager. Staff understood and applied the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) to protect people’s rights. People were supported to maintain a healthy diet.

People spoke positively about staff and the care they received at the service and told us they were treated with dignity and respect. Staff knew the people they supported well, which meant they could have interesting and meaningful conversations with them. We saw numerous examples of kind and caring interactions between staff and people at the service.

People were supported to access advocacy services. At the time of our inspection no one at the service was receiving end of life care. However, people’s wishes were recorded in their care plans.

People’s care was person-centred and was regularly reviewed to ensure it reflected people’s current needs and preferences. We received mixed feedback on activities at the service. Some people were content with the activities, but others said they would like to go out more. Staff thought people would benefit from being taken out more but staffing levels did not allow for this.

There was a complaints policy in place. People told us they knew how to complain about issues.

The manager and registered provider carried out a range of quality assurance checks to monitor and improve standards at the service. Staff told us they felt supported by the manager, but not always by the registered provider. We saw from records at the service that we had not always received required notifications about safeguarding incidents. We reminded the manager and registered provider of the requirement to submit notifications. Feedback was sought from people using the service and staff.

We identified one breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 during our inspection, in relation to staffing levels. You can see what action we took at the back of the full version of this report.