Archived: Springfield Care Centre

Updated 25 February 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 inspection took place on 18 January 2017.

The inspection team consisted of two adult social care inspectors. Before our inspection visit we looked at information received from local authority commissioners. Commissioners are people who work to find appropriate care and support services for people and fund the care provided. We reviewed the provider's statement of purpose and the notifications we had been sent. A statement of purpose is a document which includes a standard required set of information about a service. Notifications are changes, events or incidents that providers are required to tell us by law.

During our visit we spoke with six people who used the service and seven relatives. Some people who used the service could not tell us about their experiences due to dementia, so we observed their care using the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We spoke with a visiting healthcare professional, the area manager, registered manager, deputy manager, and eight care workers.

We looked at records relating to different aspects of the service including the menus, staff rotas and quality assurance systems. We reviewed seven people's care records and 10 staff files.

Updated 25 February 2017

This inspection took place on 18 January 2017. The inspection was unannounced and was the first one since the service has been registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), however the service was previously registered with CQC under a different legal entity.

Springfield Care Centre is a care home with nursing for 80 older people with dementia and/or nursing needs. There were 75 people using the service during the inspection.

The service had a registered manager. 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.

We found that there were not enough staff deployed to ensure people were safe and their needs met. People and staff told us and we observed that people could be at risk due to shortage of staff to monitor and provide care according to their care plans and risk assessments. However, we saw that the staff were caring, kind and compassionate when providing personal care and supporting people. Staff respected people's privacy and dignity, and ensured that care and support was delivered in line with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Staff had various training opportunities in areas relevant to their roles and there was a supervision system which ensured that staff had supervision and support. We also noted that the provider undertook various checks when recruiting staff. However, we made a recommendation regarding lack of checks in gaps in employment history.

During the inspection we noted that there was unpleasant smell in some parts of the home and there was a need for general refurbishment. The registered manager was aware of these concerns and had a plan in place to address them. We made a recommendation for the registered manager to follow best practices when making changes to the service premises.

Staff reviewed care plans and we noted that people and/or their relatives were involved in developing and reviewing these. Although the care plans were detailed and people received appropriate care and support, not all people were provided with appropriate, stimulating activities. We recommended that the registered manager looks for best practices of person-centred activities to meet people's individual needs and interests.

The service sought feedback through relatives' and staff meetings, and through survey questionnaires sent to families. There were also various auditing systems for checking medicines, incidents, care plans and health and safety.

We found one breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we have told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.