All inspections: Sherwood House Residential Care Home

Sherwood House Residential Care Home provides accommodation and support with personal care for up to 20 older people. The home is located in the village of Linby in Nottinghamshire. On the day of our inspection 16 people were living at the home. At the last inspection, in March 2015, the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found that the service remained Good.

People continued to receive safe care. Staff understood how to keep people safe and were appropriately recruited. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs although staff were very busy and had limited time to spend with people. People received their prescribed medicines safely.

People were supported by staff who received an induction, training and supervision. People were asked for their consent to the care they received. People were supported to maintain adequate hydration and nutrition and had access to healthcare professionals when required.

People were cared for and supported by staff who acted in accordance with people’s preferences. Staff were caring and friendly, respected people’s privacy and upheld their dignity. People were involved in planning and reviewing their own care and had access to advocacy.

People received care which was responsive to their individual needs, respected their choices and promoted their independence. People were given information about how to complain and their feedback in respect of the care they received was sought and acted upon.

People and staff felt able to make suggestions about the running of the home and we saw that suggestions were acted upon. The home had a registered manager in post who was aware of their responsibilities and the provider had systems in place to monitor and improve the quality and safety of the home.

Sherwood House Residential Care Home is a care home which can provide a service for up to 20 older people including people who are living with dementia. The service also provides respite care for people staying on a short term basis. There were 15 people living there at the time of our inspection.

The care home is based in a large house in a village setting near to a primary school. The grounds and house are accessible for anyone using a wheelchair and there is a large car park to accommodate staff and visitors. The gardens are arranged with paths and seating so people can enjoy the pleasant gardens.

There was a registered manager in place at the time of the inspection. 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.

This was an unannounced inspection and took place on 25 March 2015. At the last inspection on 31 October 2013 we found people were not always protected from risks or inappropriate care and treatment. This was because records were not always accurate as they did not reflect individual preferences and care needs. We asked the provider to complete a report setting out the actions of how they intended to improve the care records and to tell us when this was completed which they did. An action plan was completed by the provider in November 2013.

We saw improvements had been made in the care records at this inspection and were in a new format which was person centred to ensure people received personalised care. We saw there were systems in place for the care plans and risk assessments to be reviewed by senior staff to ensure that changes in people’s needs were recorded and acted on. However there were gaps in some records which had not been identified. This meant that although the provider had personalised the care records, the system for auditing care plans and risk assessments still required improvement to ensure people were protected from inappropriate care or treatment.

People felt safe and staff knew how to respond to any incidents. The manager informed the local authority when needed and we saw systems in place which protected people and reduced the risk of abuse.

Medicines were given as prescribed and stored safely. There were enough staff to look after people to provide support when needed.

People were supported to make decisions and where people lacked the capacity to make certain decisions they were protected under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

People’s nutritional and health needs were supported and referrals were made to health professionals if their needs changed.

Staff cared for people with kindness. We saw people were treated with dignity and respect and were supported to make choices about their care and how it was given.

People were supported and encouraged to take part in social activities, hobbies and interests if they wanted to.

People were confident and knew they could tell staff if they had a concern or complaint and were taken seriously.

People’s and relative’s views were sought about the service and the quality of the care. Audits were completed which included this information and was used by the manager to improve the service.

We spoke with three people who used the service. They told us they were happy with the care they received. One person said, 'I feel safe, and the staff are very nice. I was thankful to come here.'

We found that the service sought people's consent regarding decisions about their care and treatment. We found people's care and treatment was delivered in line with their individual preferences and needs. However, we were concerned that care records did not always accurate reflect people's individual care and treatment needs.

We found that people who used the service were protected from the risks associated with the storage and administration of medicines.

We saw staff interactions with people who use the service were caring and polite. We observed there were enough staff available to meet people's individual needs.

We saw that people were supported and enabled to make comments or complain about the care they received.

People told us what it was like to live at this home and described how they were treated by staff and their involvement in making choices about their care. They also told us about the quality and choice of food and drink available. This was because this inspection was part of a themed inspection programme to assess whether older people living in care homes are treated with dignity and respect and whether their nutritional needs are met.

The inspection team was led by a CQC inspector joined by an 'expert by experience' (people who have experience of using services and who can provide that perspective).

To help us understand people's experiences we used the Short Observational

Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a specific way of observing care to help us

understand the experiences of people who could not talk with us. We chose to use

SOFI in the main dining room on the ground floor, because this was where people most people ate their lunch. We observed the lunch time for a period of 50 minutes noting the experiences of four people. Staff interactions were very positive; they were very caring and demonstrated a good knowledge of the needs of the people they were supporting. We observed that staff were polite and attentive when speaking with people.

We spoke with people who were eating in their own room and asked them what they thought about the food provided. We received mixed comments. For example several people described the meat served as being hard, tough or dry. Others however commented 'Food is pretty good.' Anyone can have anything, they come around with a menu and there are around 3 main choices.'

We saw meals were delivered to people's rooms due to them being unwell or choosing to eat there. Throughout the day people who were in their bedroom had drinks within their reach. People said they were given drinks regularly and were confident they could ask for drinks 'out of hours.'

Throughout our visit we saw staff treating people with dignity and respect, in a kind and appropriate manner. People all had their own bedroom and we observed staff knocking on bedroom doors before entering. People we spoke with told us they felt safe in the home and knew who to speak with if they did not feel safe or if they had any concerns. One person said, 'I feel very safe.'

During our visit staff appeared to be kind and professional and appeared to genuinely care for the people they were supporting. People spoke positively about the staff who supported them. One person said, 'Staff are very nice' and another said, 'They are nice and helpful.'

However, we received comments from several people about the numbers of staff available to support them. One person told us there were not enough staff on duty. Another person said, 'At night if two girls go (to help someone) there's nobody.' People told us they wanted staff to respond more quickly to their individual needs.

People's personal records including medical records were accurate and fit for purpose. We found records were kept securely and could be located promptly when needed.

We carried out this responsive inspection because we had concerns that this service had not been visited since 10 March 2009.

There were 18 people living at the service when we visited on 20 January 2012. We spoke with four people who used the service and two staff to ask for their comments and observations. We spent time in the company of people who lived at the home observing their experience of care and assessing the quality of support they received.

We observed good quality care and support and we received some positive comments of people's experience of life at the home. We were told, "We're extremely satisfied," and "It's just right."

Another person said, 'We're entirely satisfied,' and, 'They [the staff] would always try to find a way around things if you wanted something done differently.'

These older reports are from our old approaches to inspection, including those from before CQC was created.

Archived: Sherwood House Residential Care Home

All Inspections

5 July 2017

During a routine inspection

25 March 2015

During a routine inspection

31 October 2013

During a routine inspection

9 October 2012

During a themed inspection looking at Dignity and Nutrition

20 January 2012

During an inspection in response to concerns

Reports under our old system of regulation