Archived: Red Oaks Care Community

Updated 17 December 2020

The inspection

This was a focussed inspection to check whether the provider had met the requirements of the Warning Notice in relation to Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment) and Regulation 17 (Good Governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

Service and service type

Red Oaks Care Community is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission at the time of the inspection, however, since the inspection took place, the manager had completed their application process and is now registered with CQC. Registering as a manager with CQC means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was to ensure we could manage the risk related to COVID-19.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We had also requested information from the provider prior to the inspection and this information was used as part of the inspection plan. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return prior to this inspection. This is information we required providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the manager, deputy manager, nurse, team leader and a housekeeping staff member. We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records, multiple medication records and accident and incident records.

After the inspection

We received clarification from the service to validate evidence and we requested further information and quality assurance records which we have used to support our judgements in the report.

Updated 17 December 2020

About the service

Red Oaks Care Community is a care home providing personal and nursing care to 21 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection, including those living with dementia. The service can support up to 40 people. Red Oaks Care Community is purpose built. It is split over two floors with communal areas on each floor.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

During this inspection we did not speak directly with people at the service due to the increased risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. People appeared relaxed and had a good rapport with staff.

We identified gaps in the Medicines Administration Record (MAR) which were not reported and investigated promptly. We recommend the provider makes further improvements about management of medicines. Peoples care records were generally up to date and relevant.

The provider had reviewed and updated their Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) procedure to reflect national COVID-19 guidance. The home was clean and appropriate checks were in place for people visiting the service.

Quality assurance processes were in place to ensure improvements were made. Issues identified during our last inspection had been actioned and rectified to ensure people were no longer at risk of fire or risk of scalding from a hot water outlet.

The provider had reviewed and updated their dependency tool to ensure people’s need were correctly assessed and to deploy sufficient numbers of staff to meet people’s needs. Staff told us they felt supported by the new manager and we could see evidence of staff morale improving. Staff were keen to drive the improvement and make positive changes to the service.

The provider and the manager demonstrated a willingness to make further improvements and had implemented service improvement plans to evidence how they were committed to improve the running of the service.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (published 16 October 2020), there were four breaches of regulation. We issued the provider with a Warning Notice and asked the provider to complete an action plan to show what they would do to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations however we have made some recommendations.

Why we inspected

We undertook this focused inspection to check whether the Warning Notice we previously served in relation to Regulation 12 (Safe Care and Treatment) and 17 (Good Governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 had been met. We also checked whether the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements regarding Regulation 18 (Staffing) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and Regulation 18 Registration Regulations 2009 Notifications.

This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements. The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has not changed. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Red Oaks Care Community on our website at www.cqc.org

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.