Vida Grange

Updated 25 January 2018

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.

We inspected the service on 6 and 8 November 2017. Day one was unannounced and we told the provider we would be visiting on day two. On day one the inspection team consisted of two adult social care inspectors, an inspection manager and a specialist advisor in medicines management. On day two one adult social care inspector and two experts by experience visited. An expert by experience is a person who has experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Before the inspection we reviewed all of the information we held about the service. This included feedback received from members of the public, local authority and information we had received from statutory notifications since the service opened. Notifications are when providers send us information about certain changes, events or incidents that occur within the service. We sought feedback from the commissioners of the service prior to our visit. This included various local authorities and clinical commissioning groups. We asked Healthwatch if they held any information about the service. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. The provider completed a provider information return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection we spoke with ten people and eight of their family members/representatives. We spent time in communal areas and observed how staff interacted with people and some people showed us their bedrooms. We used 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. Following the inspection we received feedback from three people’s relatives about their experience of the service.

We spoke with the registered manager, managing director, director of operations, training manager, marketing manager and 15 other members of staff who carried out roles such as heads of department, team leaders, nurses and catering staff, care workers, agency care workers and wellbeing roles. We spoke with three visiting professionals during the inspection.

During the inspection we reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records, including care planning documentation. We looked at 11 people’s medicines records. We looked at three staff recruitment files and training records, records relating to the management of the home and a variety of policies and procedures developed and implemented by the provider.

Updated 25 January 2018

We inspected Vida Grange on 6 and 8 November 2017. The inspection was unannounced on the first day and we told the provider we would be visiting on the second day. This was the first inspection of the service since it was registered in December 2016.

Vida Grange is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Vida Grange can accommodate up to 124 people across eight units which are called houses. Each house has its own separate adapted facilities. When we visited five houses were open and 72 people used the service. Three of the units provided nursing care and two units provided residential care. The service provided support to older and younger people living with dementia.

The service had a registered manager in post. 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.

The provider’s vision included a commitment which stated, ‘Vida Grange will see each resident as unique and respect the perspective of each individual through the provision of life story work and adopting a person centred approach to our residents and within our team’. The provider had worked very hard to integrate their vision and ethos of care into every aspect of their work from recruitment, designing care with people and their families and using every opportunity to learn lessons and continually improve. This meant people received truly person centred care from staff who were extremely caring. Relatives described the service as distinctive from others their family members had used in relation to the person centred care people received.

People were treated with high levels of respect and afforded dignity. Staff provided excellent support to enable people to communicate which ensured people directed their own care and support. People told us staff were exceptionally kind towards them. People and their relatives told us they thought the care people received was of a very high standard.

The provider used good practice and innovation to ensure people living with dementia received an effective service. This meant people experienced a good quality of life and that the service had managed to support people to have good outcomes. Investment in the staff team with regards to their training and support meant they had the skills and knowledge to deliver expert care. Exceptional use of positive behavioural support techniques meant people experienced less distress and therefore had more positive feelings of wellbeing.

The environment was expertly designed to support people to be independent in their surroundings and this reduced the likelihood of distressed behaviour. The staff approach was to empower people to have choice and make their own decisions. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible, the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People had access to a wide variety of activities which they told us they thoroughly enjoyed. People were supported to develop and maintain friendships to prevent social isolation. Staff used information they gathered about people to develop meaningful relationships with them. All of this supported people to experience high levels of wellbeing.

People were supported very well to manage their health. People told us they found the food was of a great standard and this supported people to maintain good nutritional health. The service had excellent links with the healthcare professionals to maintain people’s health.

Staff understood how to keep people safe and risks were well managed in all areas of people’s support, for example, medicines, distressed behaviour and health. Where incidents occurred the provider had systems to ensure the situation was critically analysed to prevent a reoccurrence where possible. Staff understood how to recognise signs of abuse or neglect and how to report concerns. The registered manager had reported and investigated safeguarding concerns appropriately.

People told us they felt safe using the service. The provider used appropriate recruitment processes and understood the numbers of staff that were needed to keep people safe. The building was well maintained and safety checks were carried out to make sure the environment and equipment used was safe.

The provider gave people, their relatives and staff opportunity to be involved in the development of the service. They listened to feedback received including the issues raised via the complaints system and used it to continuously improve their service.

The senior team in the service were new as was the service. They had been supported to develop their leadership skills to promote a positive culture. The quality assurance systems in place were being embedded and the senior team displayed a commitment to continuous improvement of the service. Everyone was aware of the provider’s values and ethos and demonstrated a motivation to deliver high quality person centred care for people.