Archived: Oaklands Care Home Limited

Updated 11 November 2017

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 was an unannounced inspection carried out by one inspector on 16 October 2017.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service. We looked at information received from and about the service since the last inspection and any statutory notifications received from the provider. A statutory notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We considered this information when planning our inspection to the service.

The majority of people who used the service were unable to use verbal language to communicate with us. We used observation as a main tool of understanding people’s experience of using the service and the care that they received. We spoke with four people who used the service, and four family members and friends. We also spoke with the registered manager, three care staff and a visiting healthcare professional.

We looked at a range of records including four care plans, five recruitment files, complaints and incidents, medicine records and quality assurance audits.

Updated 11 November 2017

This inspection took place on 16 October 2017 and was unannounced.

Oaklands Care Home provides accommodation with care for up to 14 older people. Care is provided over two floors. At the time of our inspection there were 13 people living at the service

A registered manager was in post at the service. 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.

Risks to people’s health and well-being were not fully recorded or followed so that they could be managed safely. Professional advice was not being followed in relation to a person’s nutrition.

The service did not have in place a process for the safe recruitment of staff. Staff were being recruited without the required employment checks in place to ensure they were able to work with people in a social care setting.

Training had not been developed to reflect the deterioration of people and staff did not always demonstrate they knew how to provide the right care.

We recommended that the provider develop their training with reference to a reputable source around dementia care and best practice within care homes.

Systems were not in place to make sure the rights of people who may lack capacity to make particular decisions were protected.

People were not always treated with dignity and respect and their independence encouraged. Care was not always person centred to meet their needs.

The quality assurance audits were not sufficiently robust to ensure that people received a service which met their needs and protected their safety.

There were sufficient numbers of care staff to care for people at the service.

People’s physical and mental health needs were assessed, monitored and met in order for them to live well. The service worked closely with relevant health care professionals. Generally, people received the support they needed to have a healthy diet that met their individual needs.

People were cared for by staff who knew them well. People and their relatives were able to raise concerns and give their views and opinions and these were listened to and acted upon. The registered manager was not aware of the requirements of the Accessible Information Standard but, however, they were meeting people’s sensory and communication needs.

The registered manager was visible in the service and worked well together with a consistent team of staff. People were cared for by staff who were enthusiastic and supported.