We carried out a review of the data available to us about Dearnevale on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Dearnevale, you can give feedback on this service.
Dearnevale is a care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 44 people, some of whom have a range of complex needs. The service specialises in care for people with neurological disabilities, brain injury, stroke and enduring mental ill health. The home provides care over four units and in one adjacent 'one-care' service. One-care offers extended pathways of care, providing a more independent home for people who have met rehabilitation goals and enabling them to return gradually to life in the community, or those who can live independently with support nearby, or for people who require an individual care environment. There were 42 people living at Dearnevale at the time of the inspection.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were treated with the utmost kindness and compassion. Without exception staff were highly motivated and used positive, encouraging language, eye contact and tactile communication where needed with all the people they cared for. People’s diversity was respected and there was no evidence of any discriminatory practice at the home. Service user led meetings resulted in extremely positive impacts on people. People at the home, their family and friends, where appropriate, were involved in all discussions and reviews of care. People said their dignity was unfailingly respected and observations supported this. A relative commented, “[Relative] is looked after with the utmost dignity.” People’s independence was positively promoted at all times.
Staff demonstrated a high level of knowledge of each person who lived at the home. Extra training had been provided for staff around specific diseases, to ensure they had the correct, high level of skills and knowledge to meet the needs of each individual. Assistive technology was widely used to aid communication and ensure maximum involvement in all aspects of daily living.
Visitors were warmly welcomed at the home. People were fully supported to maintain relationships and to follow their interests and hobbies. Staff supported people to achieve their full potential and fulfil their own goals and objectives in very creative ways. Concerns or complaints were dealt with efficiently and honestly. People’s wishes for the end of their lives were respected.
There was a very clear culture of absolute respect and kindness within the home, emanating from every member of staff and led by a visible and supportive management team. Staff demonstrated a high level of pride in the service and their roles within it and spoke with enthusiasm and passion about their work.
The service actively and positively participated within the local community. For example, the home had run an after school club one day per week last year. This had been a tremendous success and the service was intending to repeat the experience in the near future.
People felt safe at the service and systems were in place to help ensure their safety. Appropriate risk assessments were kept in people’s care files. Staff were recruited safely and there was a consistent staff team who had worked at the home for long periods of time. Staffing levels were sufficient to meet the needs of the people living at the home. There were safe systems in place for managing medicines and staff completed regular medicines training.
Thorough pre-admission assessments were completed and care plans included a range of health and personal information. Staff were supported with a thorough induction and a comprehensive on-going training programme. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last inspection was in April 2015 (published 7 July 2015) and we rated the service as good. There was an inspection in November 2017 however, the report following that inspection was withdrawn as there was an issue with some of the information that we gathered.
Why we inspected
This is a planned re-inspection because of the issue highlighted above.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
We carried out this inspection on 07 April 2015 and it was unannounced.
Our last inspection of the service took place on 23 December 2013 and we found the service was meeting the requirements of the regulations we inspected at the time.
Dearnevale was registered on 29 July 2011. It is a nursing home registered to provide accommodation and nursing or personal care to 40 people, aged 18+ years, in four separate units. On the day of our inspection, the home was fully occupied, with 40 people using the service.
It is a condition of registration with the Care Quality Commission that the service has a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service and has the legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the law; as does the provider. The registered manager was present on the day of our inspection.
People and their relatives told us they felt the service was safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led. Comments included; “It’s great here. They look after me well.”, “I know that if there is anything my relative needs, the home sorts it for them.”, “All the staff are really nice. I’m going on holiday with some of them and I can’t wait.” and “[The registered manager] is brill. I love her. She’s really nice and always manages to find time to chat to me.”
We found the service ensured people were protected from abuse and followed adequate and effective safeguarding procedures. We found care records were personalised and contained relevant information for staff to provide person-centred care and support.
We found good practice in relation to decision making processes at the home and in line with the Mental Capacity code of practice, with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards being followed.
Medicines at the home were managed well and the registered manager told us they would carry out medication competency assessments on an annual basis.
We found supervision of staff had been carried out on a regular basis. Annual appraisals had not been completed on an annual basis. The registered manager told us they would ensure this was done in future.
There were good quality-monitoring systems in place at the home that were carried out on a regular basis. We saw that, where issues had been identified, the registered manager had taken (or was taking) steps to address and resolve them.
Staff were up to date with their training requirements and a new training matrix identified areas where additional training would be undertaken by staff.
During our inspection, we found the service was fully compliant with the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.
On the whole, people were cared for in a clean, hygienic environment. Family members were positive about the cleanliness and hygiene at the home. They told us that they always found the home clean. One family member commented, 'It's spot on.'
The service operated an effective recruitment procedure.
There was a complaints system available. People and family members we spoke with said they would raise concerns if they needed to.
When we spoke with people using the service all were pleased with the service they received. One person was able to describe why they were pleased. They said, 'They do what they say here and follow procedures. Some are firm, but that's better.'
People described some of their daily routines. One person said, 'I go out myself if I want. They also come with me to watch the rugby.'
A discussion with one person told us there were quizzes, karaoke, visits to the cinema/cinema events at the home and trips to the coast.
People told us and we saw that there was a mini bus available to transport people to events if necessary. For example, we saw one person using the mini bus to go home on a visit.
Everyone we spoke with told us they liked living at the service, had no concerns/complaints and felt safe. Comments included:
'It's a good place and I've been in a couple of places.'
'Complaints are an opportunity for people to improve their performance but they didn't think it was looked at like that here.' They were aware of the procedure to follow if they needed to make any complaints and that there was a proper complaints procedure.
One person told us of a concern they'd raised about the care provided and this was recorded in their daily report. This told us people felt safe raising any concerns they had.
When we spoke with people they told us there were sufficient staff. For example, one person had moved from elsewhere and said one of the reasons for it being better here was because there were more staff. One person commented that the staff were well trained.
When we spoke with people they told us of the 'wish book' where they were able to make requests for activities they might like to do and of the resident's meeting where they could speak about the care provided at the home.