Archived: The Fountains Nursing Home

Updated 17 March 2020

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by an inspector, a medicines inspector, a medicines team support officer and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

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

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we held about the service. This included the previous inspection report and action plan following that inspection. We looked at notifications we had received from the service. Notifications contain information about events which have happened at the service, such as safeguarding concerns, serious injuries and deaths.

We reviewed information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information they are required to send us which tells us about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We gathered feedback from the local authority. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During the inspection we visited all three units. We reviewed nine medicine administration records and looked at medicines related documentation. We observed medicines administration, checked storage and spoke to five staff about how they managed medicines.

We looked at seven people’s care records, which included their support plans and risk assessments. We reviewed a range of documents relating to how the service was managed, including training records, staff recruitment files, policies and audits.

We spoke with the registered manager, two activities coordinators, two registered nurses, three care assistants and a team leader. We spoke with 12 people who lived at the home and seven family members.

Updated 17 March 2020

About the service

The Fountains Nursing Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care for up to 98 people. At the time of our inspection there were 71 people living at the home. Accommodation is provided in three separate units. Victoria unit (general nursing) is situated on the ground floor and both Lowry (dementia nursing) and Garden View (residential) are situated on the first floor.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Since our last inspection some improvements had been made to the management of medicines. However, further improvements are needed, particularly around medicines administration records and ‘when required’ medicines. We have made a recommendation about the safe management of medicines.

There were systems in place to ensure only staff who were suitable to work with vulnerable people were recruited. There were enough staff to care for people and people told us they felt safe and happy living at The Fountains Nursing Home. Staff understood safeguarding procedures and had received training in recognising the signs of and types of abuse.

The home was clean, well-maintained and nicely decorated. All servicing of equipment had been completed. Staff followed correct infection control practices.

Risks to people’s health and safety had been assessed and were managed correctly. A variety of appropriate activities were provided, and people were actively encouraged to participate in them.

Since our last inspection improvements had been made in record keeping and in the quality assurance systems. People had person-centred care plans in place and staff were knowledgeable about people’s needs.

There was good oversight of the service, with effective systems in place to monitor the quality of support provided and to drive improvements. We discussed the concerns we found around medicines management with the registered manager and steps were immediately taken to rectify some of the issues.

People and staff were complimentary about the way the home was managed. There was an open and honest culture at the service and the registered manager showed committed leadership. Staff told us they all worked well together as a team.

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (report published 8 November 2019).

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 7, 8 and 12 August 2019. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

Why we inspected

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe, responsive and well-led, which contained those requirements.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. The ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Fountains Nursing Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.