Archived: Loughton Court

Updated 29 May 2015

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 registered 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.’

The inspection took place on 2 March 2015 by two inspectors and was unannounced.

Before the inspection, the registered provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the registered provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We also reviewed the information we held about the service. We looked at information received from relatives and professionals who visited the service, from the local authority commissioners and we reviewed the statutory notifications the registered manager had sent us. A statutory notification is information about important events which the registered provider is required to send to us by law. Commissioners are people who work to find appropriate care and support services which are paid for by the local authority.

During our inspection we spoke with five people who lived at the home, two relatives, three care staff, two domestic staff and the registered manager.

We observed care being delivered in communal areas and we observed how people were supported at lunch time.

We looked at a range of records about people’s care including four care files. This was to assess whether the information needed about each person, and the care offered to each person was available.

We reviewed records of the checks the registered manager and the registered provider made to assure themselves people received a quality service.

We looked at personnel files for two members of staff to check that suitable recruitment procedures were in place and staff received training and were supported to deliver care and support appropriate to each person’s needs.

Updated 29 May 2015

We inspected this service on 2 March 2015. The inspection was unannounced. At our previous inspection in May 2013, the service was meeting the regulations that we checked.

The service provides accommodation and personal care for up to 24 older people who may have dementia. Twenty one people were living at the home on the day of our inspection.

A requirement of the service’s registration is that they have 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. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager working at the service. The registered manager was about to leave but the provider had recruited a new manager and a handover period had been arranged.

There was a calm, relaxed atmosphere at the home and people told us they felt safe and were happy living at the home. The registered manager and staff understood their responsibilities to protect people from harm.

Staff were trained to care and support people safely and had a good understanding of people’s needs because they read their care plans and took the time to get to know them well. The registered manager operated safe recruitment processes and new staff received induction training that supported them to meet the needs of people living at the home.

People were supported to maintain good health and accessed the services of other health professionals. People told us they saw their doctor, district nurse and social worker when they needed to.

The registered manager understood their responsibility to comply with the requirements of The Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. For people who were assessed as not having capacity, we saw that their families were involved in discussions about who should make decisions in their best interest.

We saw there were sufficient staff to support people and people did not have to wait long when they asked for assistance. People told us they liked the staff and we saw that they were relaxed and comfortable in their company. Staff understood people’s individual needs and abilities and were alert to verbal and non-verbal cues and responded in a way that respected people’s dignity and promoted their independence.

People enjoyed the food at the home and had access to drinks and snacks to meet their nutritional needs. We saw people were able to make choices and relatives told us they were encouraged to visit whenever they liked. People were encouraged to take part in activities within the home.

People and their relatives were involved in planning and agreeing how they were cared for and supported. People told us the registered manager was approachable and they felt able to raise their concerns. The registered manager shared complaints with staff as an opportunity for learning and to make improvements to the service.

Audits were carried out to check the safety and quality of the service but these were not effective in identifying shortfalls in the way medicines were handled at the home, and the monitoring of people at risk of not drinking enough fluids. There was no system in place to monitor the information from accidents and incidents.

We found a breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010 which corresponds with a breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) 2014. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the back of the report.