Acacia House Nursing Home

Updated 24 October 2018

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.

Inspection team:

One inspector, a pharmacist inspection, a Specialist nursing advisor and an Expert by Experience conducted the inspection. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The expert was a previously registered nurse who had managed a care home and also has personal experience of supporting an older person with dementia.

Service and service type:

Acacia House Nursing Home is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. At the time of the inspection Acacia House Nursing Home provided both personal and nursing care for up to 27 people.

The home had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means 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 the inspection we reviewed information, we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, for example, injuries that occur in the service and any allegations of such as abuse. We assessed the information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection, we spoke with 12 people using the service and five relatives to ask about their experience of care. We also spoke with eight members of staff, including agency staff, the registered manager and a senior manager for the provider. Everyone we spoke to told us that the service had improved. Details are in the Key Questions below.

The report includes evidence and information gathered by the Expert by Experience; pharmacist inspector and specialist advisor.

Updated 24 October 2018

What life is like for people using this service:

•People received care and support based on their needs and preferences. Staff were aware of people’s life history and preferences and they used this information to develop positive relationships and deliver person centred care. People had good health care support from external professionals. Where staff noted a concern they quickly involved healthcare professionals, to achieve positive outcomes for people.

•Some people were concerned about the use of agency workers in the service because they felt that they did not receive the same level of care and dignity that they received from permanent staff, whom they all described positively. The registered manager and provider were aware of this concern and were working to reduce the impact on people of using agency staff. They tried to book in advance and ensure the same staff were used so they could get to know people and build relationships, while they recruited for new staff.

•Staff spoke positively about working in the home, telling us they ‘loved’ it. They were confident the service put people first while supporting staff to deliver good care. Management of the service were open to suggestions and keen to make positive developments. Following a recent safety concern, they reviewed their processes and implemented new systems to ensure staff had the knowledge and skills to prevent a reoccurrence.

•The service met characteristics of Good in all areas;

•More information is in Detailed Findings below.

Rating at last inspection:

Good (report published 23 June 2016)

About the service:

Acacia House Nursing Home is a residential care home that was providing personal and nursing care to 22 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection. The inspection was prompted in part by notification of a serious medicines error. The information shared with CQC about the incident indicated potential concerns about the management medicines. We checked this in looking at the quality and safety of the service.

Follow up:

There is no required follow up to this inspection however we will continue to monitor the service through information we receive.