Archived: Craven Park

Updated 13 March 2019

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 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 was prompted in part by information shared from local authorities about deficiencies that they had found during checks of the service.

This was a comprehensive inspection. It took place on 8 and 10 January 2019. The first day of the inspection was unannounced.

The inspection was carried out by a lead inspector with assistance from two other inspectors, a specialist nurse advisor and one expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Before the inspection we looked at information we held about the service, including statutory notifications that the provider had sent to us. A statutory notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We also reviewed information sent to us by others, such as local authorities that commissioned care services for people from the provider.

Due to us changing the inspection date we did not ask the provider to complete a Provider Information Return [PIR] prior to this inspection. The PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

To help gain information about people’s experience of the service, we observed engagement between staff and people who used the service. We also observed interaction between staff and visitors.

During the inspection we spoke with the nominated individual (person employed by the provider who has the responsibility for supervising the management of the regulated activities). We also spoke with the consultant operations manager, deputy manager, three nurses, six care workers, two cooks, a laundry assistant, six people using the service and six people’s relatives.

We also reviewed a variety of records, which related to people's individual care and the running of the service. These records included care files of seven people using the service, eight staff records, audits and policies and procedures that related to the management of the service.

Updated 13 March 2019

The comprehensive inspection of Craven Park took place on the 8 and 10 January 2019. The first day of the inspection was unannounced.

Craven Park is a care home that provides nursing care and accommodation for a maximum of 26 people. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. During our visit there were 15 people using the service, including one person who was in hospital until the afternoon of the second day of the inspection.

People’s bedrooms were located on three floors. There is a passenger lift to assist people to access their bedrooms located on the 1st and 2nd floors. People have access to safe outdoor space and the home is located close to shops and public transport.

The service does not have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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. A manager had been in post since July 2018 but left the service in early January 2019. The service is currently being managed by the consultant operations manager with assistance from the deputy manager.

At the last inspection on 18 January and 2 February 2018, we rated the service Good overall but in the area of Well-Led, we rated the service Requires Improvement. This was because we found oversight of day to day delivery of the service was not always effective. We found shortfalls to do with the moving and handling of one person using the service and in the monitoring of two people’s fluid monitoring records. During that inspection management had been responsive in quickly addressing the deficiencies that we found, but their quality monitoring systems had not been effective in identifying the issues that we found. We made a recommendation that the provider sought advice from a reputable source about the development of ‘monitoring spot checks’ of the service, to ensure that deficiencies were identified and addressed promptly.

During this inspection we again found shortfalls in the monitoring of people’s drinking. We also found deficiencies in other areas of the service. People’s medicines were not always managed in a safe way, and not every person using the service were provided with regular access to meaningful activities that met their preferences and protected them from social isolation. Care plans were not in place to meet some people’s specific medical conditions. People’s risk assessments lacked detailed guidance, staff recruitment checks were not robust, and records did not show that all staff members had completed an induction.

Audits and quality monitoring checks had been carried out and identified deficiencies in the service, but audit records did not show details of proposed action by the service to address the shortfalls and show that shortfalls had been addressed and improvements made. This indicated that the quality monitoring and quality improvement systems of the service were not effective in mitigating all the risks to the health, safety and welfare of people using the service and possibly others including staff.

We found that there were five breaches in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report. Full information about CQC's regulatory response to any concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.

Some areas of the interior surroundings had been improved, but there were parts of the premises and some furnishings, which remained tired looking. Also, some repairs had not been addressed.

There were some aspects of the service that were positive. People’s relatives spoke of a welcoming atmosphere. We found that staff engaged with people in a caring and respectful manner and they understood the importance of treating people with dignity and protecting their privacy.

The service had clear procedures to support staff to recognise and respond to abuse and keep people safe. Staff knew how to identify abuse and understood the safeguarding procedures they needed to follow to protect people from harm.

People and their relatives provided us with some positive feedback about the service.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.