Archived: Cedar Lawn Nursing Home

Updated 26 July 2018

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.

This inspection took place on 21 and 22 June 2018 and was unannounced. The inspection team consisted of one inspector, a specialist advisor who was a nurse in the care of older people and an 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 inspecting Cedar Lawn, we reviewed all information we already held about the location. We looked at previous inspection reports, feedback from health and social care professionals and notifications. A notification tells us information about important events in the service that the registered manager is required to inform us about.

We did not ask the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) before this inspection. This is 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 took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

We spoke with eight people who used the service and four relatives. We also spoke with two registered nurses, four care staff, two kitchen staff members, a housekeeper, the registered manager, the Director of Care and the owner. We pathway tracked four people and looked at the care records of two others.

We looked at staff files, training records, recruitment files, duty rotas, signing in sheets, supervision records and reviewed the services policies and procedures.

We checked information and records held about the premises and health and safety including water hygiene, fire safety and safety checks on equipment.

The last inspection of Cedar Lawn Nursing Home took place on 31 August and 1 September 2016 and rated the service as good.

Updated 26 July 2018

The inspection took place on 21 and 22 June 2018 and was unannounced.

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

Cedar Lawn Nursing Home is a converted property and accommodates up to 30 people who require nursing care. When we inspected there were 26 people living in the home. There were three shared rooms in the property, the rest being single occupancy rooms of varying sizes. Most rooms had ensuite toilet and wash basin facilities.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager 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 registered manager had completed notifications as required and was in the process of completing the PIR for the service.

At our last inspection we were concerned there were not enough staff to support people. There were now sufficient staff deployed to ensure that care was safely delivered and the service was now compliant with regulations.

We had also been concerned at aspects of medicines management. This had improved and medicines were safely managed.

Risks were assessed and well-known assessment tools were used to maintain people’s health and well-being.

Equipment and systems such as the fire alarm, hoists and passenger lifts were regularly serviced and maintained.

Risks of harm from legionella was minimised with a robust risk assessment and management plan.

People were protected from being cared for by unsuitable staff by a thorough recruitment process.

Staff were knowledgeable about safeguarding and were able to identify possible signs of abuse and knew what actions to take if they suspected it had occurred.

People’s needs were assessed and care plans devised to meet their needs.

The service complied with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and when necessary applied for authorisation to restrict peoples freedom under Deprivation of Liberties legislation.

Peoples nutritional needs were met and the service provided appetising meals to the requirements of individuals.

We made a recommendation that the provider reviewed staff deployment at lunchtimes.

The service was proactive in promoting people’s dignity.

Life profiles were completed for all residents which showed what people liked to do at particular times of the day.

End of life care was dealt with sensitively and people were supported to have a respectful and dignified death.

There were robust quality audits which were completed regularly and acted upon.

Policies and procedures were comprehensive, readily available and reflected good practice.