Archived: Laburnum Court Care Home

Updated 15 May 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection team consisted of two adult social care inspectors and an assistant inspector from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), a specialist adviser (SPA), who was a pharmacist and an expert by experience (ExE). An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type:

Laburnum Court Care Home 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 had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This 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:

The inspection was unannounced, which means the home did not know we were visiting.

What we did:

Prior to the inspection we reviewed information and evidence we already held about the home, which had been collected via our ongoing monitoring of care services. This included notifications sent to us by the home. Notifications are changes, events or incidents that the provider is legally obliged to send to us without delay. We also asked for feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the home.

Prior to the inspection we asked the service to complete a Provider Information Return, which is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection we spoke with 15 people living at the home and two visiting relatives. We also spoke with the registered manager, area manager and 9 staff, which included a mix of nursing and care staff.

We reviewed 12 care plans, eight staff personnel files, eight medicine administration records (MAR) and other records relating to the management of the home and care provided to people living there.

Updated 15 May 2019

About the service:

Laburnum Court is part of Four Seasons (Bamford) Limited and situated in a residential area of Salford. The home provides nursing care as well as care for people living with dementia. The home provides single occupancy rooms, across two units, which are known internally as 'The Lowry' and ‘The Priory’. At the time of the inspection there were 55 people living at Laburnum Court.

People’s experience of using this service:

People told us they received their medicines when required and raised no concerns, however we identified some issues with the management of topical medicines, such as creams.

People and their relatives spoke positively about the standard of care provided and the caring nature of the staff. People told us they would recommend the home to others and described it as ‘homely’ with a ‘lovely atmosphere’.

Staff had received safeguarding training and knew how to identify and report any concerns. Accidents, incidents and falls had been documented consistently, with audits completed to look for trends and help prevent a reoccurrence. We found the home to be clean throughout with effective cleaning and infection control processes in place.

Staff had received sufficient training and ongoing support to help them carry out their roles. People described the staff as being kind, friendly and despite being very busy, ‘always managing to smile’.

People received personalised care which met their needs. Care files contained personalised information about the people who lived at the home and how they wished to be supported and cared for. These had been reviewed regularly to reflect people’s changing needs and wishes.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. People were encouraged to remain as independent as possible, with lots of positive examples of this noted during the inspection.

People spoke positively about the choice and standard of meals provided and we found people requiring a modified diet received these in line with professional guidance, albeit we have recommended the provider considers how this is documented, to better evidence compliance.

The home had a range of systems and procedures in place to monitor the quality and effectiveness of the service. Action plans had been completed to promote continuous improvement.

For more details please see the full report either below or on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection:

At our last inspection the home was rated as requires improvement (report published April 2018).

Why we inspected:

This inspection was part of our scheduled plan of visiting services to check the safety and quality of care people received. As the home was rated as ‘requires improvement’ following our last inspection, we returned within 12 months to check the necessary improvements had been made.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor information and intelligence we receive about the home to ensure care remains safe and of good quality. We will return to re-inspect in line with our inspection timescales for good services, however if any information of concern is received, we may inspect sooner.