Park Avenue Care Home

Updated 4 February 2021

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.

As part of CQC’s response to the coronavirus pandemic we are looking at the preparedness of care homes in relation to infection prevention and control. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection control and prevention measures the provider has in place.

This inspection took place on 21 January 2021 and was announced.

Updated 4 February 2021

About the service

Park Avenue Care Centre is a care home providing personal and nursing care. The service can support up to 51 people. Forty-seven people were living at the home at the time of the inspection. The service supports people aged over 65 years some of whom are living with dementia in one adapted building over three floors.

People’s experience of using this service

People and their relatives were positive about improvements made to the culture and leadership at the home following the arrival of a new registered manager. The registered manager promoted an open culture of communication and learning, worked proactively with other agencies and was visible as an effective leader. Staff told us there had been improvements with the leadership of the service. There was a system to monitor the quality and safety of the service and any learning was identified and acted on. People’s views about the service were requested and acted on.

People told us they felt safe and staff understood their roles in safeguarding people from harm. Risks to people had been identified, assessed and staff knew how to manage these risks safely. There was a robust process to identify learning from accidents, incidents and safeguarding concerns. Medicines were safely managed. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs and safe recruitment practices were in place.

Staff were being supported to ensure they had suitable skills and knowledge to meet people’s needs. People’s needs were assessed before they started using the service. The home had been refurbished throughout and was adapted to meet the range of needs of the people living there. People and their relatives were complimentary about the refurbishment that had taken place.

Staff asked for people’s consent before they provided care. 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. People’s nutritional needs were assessed and met. People had access to health and social care professionals as required.

People told us staff treated them with care and kindness. People’s needs in respect of their protected characteristics were assessed and supported. People were consulted about the support they received. Staff treated people with dignity, respected their privacy and encouraged their independence.

People had a personalised plan for their care that reflected their needs. People had access to a range of activities to stimulate and engage them. Relatives knew how to complain and expressed confidence that any issues they raised would be addressed. People’s wishes relating to their end of life care needs had been discussed with them or their relatives, where appropriate.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Rating at last inspection:

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 12 November 2018). We found the service needed to make improvements to ensure people were sufficiently engaged and stimulated. There was no registered manager in place and improvements were needed in the way the service was led and managed.

The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.