Oakland House Nursing Home

Updated 16 September 2021

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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of one inspector.

Service and service type

Oakland House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with nine people who used the service and a relative about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with seven members of staff including the registered manager, deputy manager, support workers and other ancillary staff.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We spoke with the Nominated Individual over the telephone. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 16 September 2021

Oakland House Nursing Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care for up to 38 people aged 18 and over. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 33 people.

Oakland House Nursing Home comprises of three separate units, Elm, Cedar and Willow. The accommodation situated over three floors is for people who require nursing or personal care and have enduring mental health needs. People with more complex physical health problems who require higher nursing needs live on the ground floor. The fundamental purpose of Oakland House Nursing Home is to support people to recover, rehabilitate and become independent.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The provider's quality monitoring checks had failed to highlight the issues found during this inspection. Not all risks to people had been identified and mitigated against. Whilst there were checks and systems in place these were not always consistently managed to ensure the environment was safe for people living at the service.

Accidents and incidents were recorded and analysed to support staff in taking actions to keep people safe and to reduce the likelihood of future harm and learn lessons.

Medicines were managed safely and there were close links with health and social care professionals to ensure people's physical and mental health needs were met and changes responded to quickly. The provider had a safe recruitment process in place to ensure appropriate people were employed.

The provider was following current national guidance for the management of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Housekeeping staff monitored all areas of the home ensuring high standards of infection prevention and control were delivered and that suitable supplies of personal protective equipment were available. The home was clean and well maintained.

Staff had been best deployed to positively support people during the COVID19 pandemic. People told us they felt safe living at the service. Staff knew how to safeguard people from abuse.

People spoke very highly of staff and said staff were caring. People had established positive relationships with staff and conversations were relaxed and comfortable.

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.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 9 July 2019).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part by notification of a specific incident, following which a person using the service sustained a serious injury. This incident is subject to a criminal investigation. As a result, this inspection did not examine the circumstances of the incident.

The information CQC received about the incident indicated concerns about the management of contact with hot surfaces. We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the key questions of effective and responsive. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvement. Please see the safe and well led sections of this full report. The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

The provider has taken action to mitigate the risks we found on this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Oakland House Nursing Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow Up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.