6 August 2019
During a routine inspection
Alde House is a residential care home providing personal care up to 17 older adults. At the time of the inspection 16 people lived at the home. The care home is located within the Chiltern area of outstanding natural beauty. People had access to a lounge, dining area, sun lounge and could freely access a garden area.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The service did not routinely ensure all the required pre-employment checks were completed for new staff. People were supported by enough staff who were deployed to meet their needs. Staff were skilled in recognising potential abuse and knew what to do to protect people from harm.
People were not routinely supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not routinely support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests. This was because the service did not fully adopt best practice for assessing people’s mental capacity to make informed decisions.
People, relatives and staff told us the service was well-led. We found the provider and registered manager failed to notify us of all reportable events. Record management within the service required improvement.
We observed people were supported by staff who demonstrated kindness and a caring approach. People were treated with dignity and respect by staff. People and their relatives described the care home as ‘Homely’ and felt part of a ‘Family’.
People told us they received a personalised service from staff and were supported to engage in meaningful activities. People were supported to practise their chosen faith.
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 15 August 2018).
The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found some improvement had been made. However, we found the provider was still in breach of regulations.
This is the second consecutive time the service has been rated requires improvement.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe, effective and well-led section of this full report.
Enforcement
We found three breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. We identified one breach of the Care Quality Commission (Regulation) Regulations 2009.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.