Redlands House

Updated 22 March 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

• The inspection was carried out by two inspectors, one medicine inspector 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, specifically for people who live with dementia.

Service and service type:

• Redlands House is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. At the time of this inspection, there were 26 people living at Redlands House, some of whom lived with dementia.

• Accommodation was in one adapted building. At the time of this inspection, major refurbishment work was being carried out to extend and update Redlands House. Work had commenced in September 2018 and was expected to be completed by summer 2019.

• The service had two managers registered with the CQC. 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. At the time of this inspection, one registered manager was absent from the service. For this report, the registered manager we refer to will be the one that was present on the day of the inspection visit and immediately following it.

Notice of inspection:

• This was an unannounced inspection and the provider was not aware of our inspection prior to our visit.

What we did:

• Prior to our inspection we reviewed and analysed the information we held about this service. This included reviewing statutory notifications the service had sent us. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law.

• We also viewed the information sent to us by stakeholders. Feedback was requested from the local authority quality assurance and safeguarding teams. We also contacted the medical practice and district nursing team who provide treatment to service users living at Redlands House for their feedback.

• We spoke with 11 people who used the service and three relatives.

• We spoke with a provider’s representative, one of the registered managers, area manager, deputy manager, one team leader, a cook, the activities coordinator and one care assistant.

• We reviewed medicines administration records for 18 people, care records for seven people and other records associated with the management of the service.

• After our inspection, we asked the provider for further documents and these were received within the requested timescale. These were reviewed and were included as part of our inspection.

Updated 22 March 2019

About the service:

• Redlands House is a residential care home that was providing personal care to 26 people aged 65 and over at the time of this inspection. Some of those residing at Redlands House were living with dementia. It is registered to provide care and support for up to 33 older people. However, at the time of this inspection, the service was undergoing major refurbishment work and was not able to accommodate the number of people it is registered for.

People’s experiences of using this service:

• This was the service’s first inspection under a new registration.

• The major building work that is currently taking place had some impact on the people who used the service. The home, at times, was chaotic and was not yet wholly suitable for the people who used it. However, it is acknowledged that the provider had recognised that the environment needed improving to give those that lived at Redlands House a better quality of life.

• The quality monitoring system the provider had in place covered all aspects of the service however it had not been fully effective at identifying and rectifying the issues found at this inspection. This included confusion over who had legal responsibilities to make decisions on a person’s care and lack of up to date information in some care plans in regard to nutritional needs. However, staff knew people’s needs well and this mitigated the risk to some extent. Medicines management requires improvement.

• Some events that are required by law to be reported to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) had not been. However, appropriate actions had been taken by the service to safeguard people.

• A fire door was found to be open which gave easy access to a main road and major building works. The provider took immediate action to make it safe.

• People received a responsive and caring service.

• The individual risks to people had mostly been identified and managed.

• Risks from the building work, environment and working processes had been mitigated.

• The service had processes in place to help protect people from the risk of abuse.

• Staff knew people well and we saw that they had built warm, kind and respectful relationships with those people that used the service and others.

• People were supported to have maximum control over their lives, remain independent and dignity was maintained. We saw that staff supported people in a respectful and gracious manner.

• People’s care was assessed, reviewed and personalised and staff knew people’s needs, preferences and likes well.

• There were enough staff to meet people’s needs when the service ran smoothly. People felt more staff were needed in the event of emergencies or incidents.

• Staff had received an induction, training and ongoing support and demonstrated knowledge. People told us they had confidence in the staff.

• People told us they would recommend the home. One relative we spoke with said, “I wouldn’t want [family member] to be anywhere else. We know [family member] is well looked after which means we don’t worry. I would happily recommend coming here.”

• For more information on our inspection findings, please see the full report which is on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Rating at last inspection:

• This was the service’s first inspection under its new registration. The regulated activity of ‘accommodation for persons who require nursing or personal care’ was registered with the CQC on 19 December 2017.

Why we inspected:

• This was a planned comprehensive inspection based on the service’s new registration.

Follow up:

• We will continue to monitor the service to ensure people receive safe, high quality care. Further inspections will be planned for future dates taking into consideration the overall rating for the service.