Archived: Green Gables - Care Home Physical Disabilities

Green Gables is a care home registered to provide accommodation and personal care to 28 adults with physical and learning disabilities. At the time of our inspection 26 people lived there. It is situated on the outskirts of the market town of Alfreton, Derbyshire.

There was a registered manager in the service. 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.

The service remained safe as people’s care was planned to meet their needs and minimise risks to their safety. Recruitment practices ensured staff were suitable to work within people. Staff understood their role in protecting people from harm and people received their medicine as required.

The service remained effective and staff were trained to have the skills they needed to support people. People chose the food and drink they liked and where people needed a specialist diet, they received nutrition to keep well. People had access to healthcare services and necessary referrals were made to ensure new health concerns were reviewed. People had choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible.

The service remained caring because staff knew people well and were interested in knowing what was important to them. People were asked how they wanted to be supported. Staff supported people to retain their independence and when support was required it was provided in a kind and reassuring manner which protected people’s dignity.

The service remained responsive because people’s care was reviewed with them to ensure it continued to meet their expectations. People were able to engage in activities that interested them and if they were unhappy, they could talk to staff about their concerns.

The service remained well led. The manager was approachable and people and relatives were given opportunities to comment on the care they received. There were quality assurance systems in place to monitor the quality of the service to drive improvements in care.

People told us they were happy with the care they received and staff were responsive to their needs. One person told us, 'It is good here and it's nice to have company. I feel safe.'

We saw the home could demonstrate how arrangements to seek people's consent to care or treatment had been agreed in the person's best interests.

The home was clean, warm and offered suitable fixtures and fittings.

We saw the staff were appropriately recruited to ensure vulnerable people were protected and staff were suitable to work in the home.

Records were stored safely and correctly. This ensured people's confidential information was stored appropriately.

At our last inspection on 7 December 2012 we made two compliance actions. This meant the provider had to make improvements to demonstrate they were fully protecting people using their service in these areas.

We found that suitable and sufficient improvements had been made where we had identified concerns. We saw the provider had put right what was required. This meant the provider could demonstrate outcomes for people using the service had improved.

Most people and their relatives praised the service and told us staff were respectful and one person said staff were 'ever so good'. We observed that people enjoyed warm relationships with staff and that interactions were polite and friendly. They were always happy and responsive to people. One person said 'Staff are very polite' and a relative said 'The home is friendly'.

One person using the service told us that the 'Staff are very good' and another said 'I'm quite happy here'. Another person told us 'They look after me pretty well'. People told us all their health and medical needs were well met. One person told us the service was 'First class'.

We saw that there was input from a physiotherapist and the service had access to specialist community health staff but we found that apart from the manager, there were no qualified nursing staff available.

There were some access issues with the building that needed addressing to ensure people using wheelchairs could move freely round the premises.