Archived: Church View (Bishop Auckland)

We spoke with four people who used the service, three people's relatives, seven members of staff and one health professional who was visiting a person on a health appointment.

People we spoke with talked positively about the care they received. One person told us "it's a lovely place the staff are brilliant." Another person told us " I enjoy the food, we always get two options at meal times and the menu is varied."

Relatives we spoke with talked positively about the service. One person told us "We have no concerns about the variety of foods provided to my relative, they are always offered snacks and drinks when I am here." Another person told us "The staff are brilliant they can't do enough to help."

One visiting health professional told us "We don't have any concerns about people's nutritional and hydration intake. The dieticians visit the service and if we were concerned about people's needs not being met we would take appropriate action."

We looked at the care records of five people and observed how people were supported during meal times. We found people had care plans in place where they were at risk of poor nutrition, but people were not always well supported during meal times on the dementia care unit.

We saw that people were able to choose what personal items to have in their room, what food they wanted to eat and what activities they wanted to take part in. We looked at individual care plans and found that these were regularly reviewed to ensure that the care provided met their changing needs.

We observed that people were asked for their views about their care and treatment through regular meetings and there were opportunities to provide comments informally. Staff were clear about how they would support someone to make a complaint or a comment if they were not happy with any aspect of their care.

We found that the provider was taking steps to ensure that people were protected from risk of abuse. Staff had received training and understood what they should do if they had any concerns.

We therefore began our inspection at 6.00pm. We noted that the majority of people throughout the home were either in the lounge or in their bedrooms relaxing. There was one person asleep in bed; however this was due to their illness. At 7.15pm we observed 10 people had their nightclothes on but they remained engaged in various activities. We saw staff asking people if they wanted to get changed into nightclothes. We also spoke with some people who lived at Church View. One person said, 'This is my home, if I want to get changed into my nightie I can.' Another said 'You go to bed whenever you like, I woke up at 2.00am and couldn't get back to sleep so they made me a cup of tea, they're champion.'

We spent time talking with several people, and watched how staff gave them support and care. We observed staff explaining to people what they were doing, for example when they were using a hoist or taking them to the dining room for lunch. We saw people generally looked clean, well presented and cared for.

When we visited the home, we looked at the medication records held on behalf of people who lived there. We also observed the senior carer administering medications during the afternoon. We saw she spent time with each individual, explained what the medication was for then recorded it in that person's file.

We also saw evidence that staff employed had been through recruitment checks prior to commencing employment.

We saw that people who used the service, relatives and staff were asked for their views about their care and treatment through regular meetings. One person said 'I would just speak to the manager', another said 'I feel they would sort it out, they consider it when you say anything to them.'