Archived: St Giles Nursing Home

Updated 22 June 2016

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 4 and 5 April 2016 and was unannounced on the first day but the provider and manager knew we were returning on the second day.

The membership of the inspection team consisted of an 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. Our expert-by-experience had experience of care homes for older people and those with mental health related issues.

Before the inspection we looked at information we already had about the provider. Providers are required to notify the Care Quality Commission about specific events and incidents that occur including serious injuries to people receiving care. We refer to these as notifications. We contacted the local authority who commission services from the provider for their views of the service.

Because some people we spoke with were living with dementia and unable to tell us very much about their experiences of care, we spent time observing interactions between staff and the people that lived there. We used a Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

As part of our inspection we spoke with 15 people and six relatives. We spoke with the manager, provider’s representative and six staff including two nurses, care staff and the activities person.

We looked at the records of three people who received support from the service, medication records, complaints, staff training records and records for monitoring the quality of the service.

Updated 22 June 2016

This inspection was carried out on 4 and 5 April 2016 and was unannounced. This was the first inspection since Avery Homes RH Ltd had taken over the home.

St Giles Nursing Home provides care and accommodation to up to 66 people in need of nursing care. People living at the home were there on either a long term basis or a temporary basis waiting to return home or move to other long term services. At the time of this inspection there were 47 people in the home.

There was no registered manager at the time of our inspection although an application had been received from the person managing the home on a day to day basis. 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.

Improvements were being made to the service to ensure that a good quality service was provided to people but this was a work in progress.

People felt safe with the staff but systems in place for managing risks associated with their needs did not always ensure they were protected.

People were consulted about the care they received and were involved in planning their care. However, the numbers and deployment of staff did not always ensure that people received care and support in the way that they wanted.

People received sufficient food and drink to remain healthy and choices were available but not everyone was happy with the quality and presentation of food.

Privacy, dignity and independence was generally promoted but some improvements could be made.

People received their medicines as prescribed and their health needs were met by the appropriate healthcare professionals.

Staff were supported to provide appropriate care because they received training, guidance and support.

Staff were kind and compassionate and had developed good relationships with people.

People were able to consent to the care they received where they had the capacity to do so. Where people did not have the capacity to make decision systems were in place to ensure that their human rights were protected.

People were supported to follow individual hobbies and interests and maintain links with friends and relatives.

People felt listened to and able to raise any concerns they may have.