Archived: Eastbourne Villa

Updated 16 June 2015

We undertook an unannounced focused inspection of Eastbourne Villa on 6 May 2015. This inspection was done to check that improvements to meet legal requirements planned by the provider after our November 2014 inspection had been made. We inspected the service against three of the five questions we ask about services: is the service safe? Is the service effective? Is the service well-led? This is because the service was not meeting some legal requirements.

The inspection was undertaken by an Adult Social Care (ASC) inspector. During our inspection we spoke with the manager and the deputy manager and observed day to day life for people who lived at the home.

We checked the records in respect of moving and handling training, quality monitoring, nutrition and recruitment and selection, and we toured the premises to look at how well it had been adapted to meet the needs of people living with dementia.

Updated 16 June 2015

This inspection took place on 6 November 2014 and was unannounced. We previously visited the service on 23 July 2014. We found that the provider did not meet the regulations that we assessed in respect of staffing levels, staff training, monitoring the quality of the service and record keeping. We asked the provider to take action to achieve compliance. At this inspection we found that appropriate action had been taken to make the improvements identified at the previous inspection.

The service is registered to provide personal care and accommodation for 15 older people, some of whom may have a dementia related condition. People are accommodated in single rooms and some have en-suite facilities. The home is situated close to the sea front and to town centre amenities.

The provider is required to have a registered manager in post and on the day of the inspection there was a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC); they had been registered since 23 January 2014. 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.

People told us that they felt safe living at the home. However, we observed staff moving and transferring people inappropriately and this could have resulted in people sustaining an injury.  

Staff received appropriate training although a more robust system was needed to record people’s induction training when they were new in post and some staff still needed to complete training that was considered mandatory by the provider. However, training had been booked for November and December 2014. We did not see any evidence that care for people living with dementia was based on published research or guidance.

Staffing levels had increased and this meant that there were sufficient numbers of staff to meet the needs of people who lived at the home. However, staff had not always been recruited following the home’s policies and procedures to ensure that only people considered suitable to work with vulnerable people had been employed.  

People’s nutritional needs had been assessed and people told us that they were satisfied with the meals provided by the home. We found that medicines were safely managed.

We observed good interactions between people who lived at the home and staff on the day of the inspection. People told us that staff were caring and this was supported by the visitors and health care professional who we spoke with. One visitor said that some staff were very caring but others were ‘task orientated’ rather than providing individualised care. Activities had reduced at the home although this was not raised as an issue by people who lived at the home.  

People’s comments and complaints were responded to appropriately but there were insufficient systems in place to seek feedback from people and their relatives about the service provided.

We found a number of breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010 and the action we have asked the provider to take is recorded at the end of the report.