Background to this inspection
Updated
27 April 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.
Inspection team
The inspection was carried out by two inspectors.
Service and service type
Acorn House Residential Care Home 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 the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection and sought feedback from the local authority.
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.
During the inspection
We spoke with four people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with four members of staff including the registered manager, shift leader, carer and nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.
We reviewed a range of records at the service, including; four care plans, quality audits, accident and incidents, medicine administration, rotas and policies and procedures. We asked the registered manager to send further records by email to support the inspection
After the inspection
We sought feedback from relatives. We reviewed a range of records including; safety checks, staff training and infection control procedures.
Updated
27 April 2021
About the service
Acorn House Residential Home Limited provides accommodation and personal care for up to 20 older people. Some people were living with dementia. Accommodation is arranged over two floors. There were 18 people living at the home on the day of our inspection.
People's experience of using this service
People were interacting with one another and staff were engaging with people. One person said, “The staff are really good and kind, they listen to you, and I feel safe here”. A relative told us, “The staff couldn’t be more pleasant, we couldn’t sing their praises more”.
At the last inspection we found that risk assessments were not updated and there were not always risk management plans in place. At this inspection we found that improvements had been made. Risks to people had been identified. Risk assessments contained all the information needed to ensure risks were kept to a minimum and detailed action/s staff needed to take, if risk did occur.
At the last inspection we found that medicines were not always safely managed. Since the last inspection the provider had introduced new medicine dispensing technology and auditing procedures. This had addressed previous shortfalls in safe management of medicines.
At the last inspection we found that people were not always recruited safely. At this inspection we found that people were recruited safely. Recruitment procedures checks had been carried out to ensure that staff were of good character and had the skills and experience necessary to provide care.
The management had a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities. The registered manager had implemented audits to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service. This had addressed previous shortfalls in this area.
Staff understood how to recognise signs of abuse and actions needed if abuse was suspected. There were enough staff to provide safe care. Safe recruitment checks were completed to ensure staff were suitable to work with people.
The registered manager and staff knew people well and quickly identified when people's needs changed. People who were unwell or needed extra support, were referred to health care professionals and other external agencies appropriately.
Care plans were held on an electronic database and accessed by tablets. The database contained up-to date and relevant information to ensure people were safe and their choices recorded. This enabled staff to safely support people and understand how people wished to be supported.
People received care and support that was personalised to their individual needs. Staff had training to meet these needs and identify areas of concern.
Infection Prevention and Control policies and procedures were being followed. The premises looked clean and tidy and we were assured that the service had controls in place to minimise the risks posed by COVID-19.
Regular activities took place to keep people stimulated and facilitate interaction between people and staff.
People's independence was promoted. The provider worked in partnership with other organisations to ensure people's individual needs were planned and met.
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 29 January 2020). We have used the previous rating to inform our planning and decisions about the rating at this inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
We undertook a focused inspection to look at the key questions of safe, responsive and well-led only, following up on three previous breaches in regulation and areas identified for improvement. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.
We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. Therefore, we did not inspect them.
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.
Ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.
The overall rating for the service has improved to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Acorn House Residential Home Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
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.