Archived: Lord Harris Court

Updated 17 June 2016

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 the 10 May 2016. It was carried out by two inspectors, a pharmacy inspector and a specialist nursing advisor and was unannounced.

Before the inspection the manager completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This 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. We looked at the PIR and at all the information we had collected about the service. This included all information and reports received from health and social care professionals and others. We looked at the notifications the service had sent us. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to tell us about by law.

During our inspection we observed care and support in communal areas of the home and used a method called Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk to us. We spoke with the interim manager, two support managers, three catering staff, an activities provider, 12 care staff (including nurses), a person’s relative and 21 people who use the service. We also received feedback from one health care professional. Additionally we received written and verbal comments from people’s relatives and two other health professionals before and after the inspection visit.

We looked at twelve people’s records and records that were used by staff to monitor people's care. In addition we looked at a sample other records related to the running of the service. These included ten medicines administration record charts, six recruitment files, staff training records, duty rosters, menus and records used to measure quality and safety.

Updated 17 June 2016

This was an unannounced inspection which took place on 10 May 2016.

Lord Harris Court is registered to provide care (with nursing) for up to 90 people. There were 74 people resident on the day of the visit, including three people in hospital. The building offers accommodation over three floors, in seven named units. There were eight vacancies and eight rooms not available because of refurbishment or repair. The first and second floors are accessed via a lift. The shared areas within the service are spacious and meet the needs and wishes of people who live in the home.

The service has not had a registered manager running the service since February 2016. A registered manager is a person who 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 service was, currently, being managed by an interim manager, two support managers, and a deputy manager. A new manager had been appointed.

The management team recognised their responsibilities to keep people, visitors to the service and staff safe. Any risks were identified and managed to make sure that people and others were kept as safe as possible. Staff were provided with training in the safeguarding of vulnerable adults and health and safety. Staff were able to describe How they kept people safe from all forms of abuse and any physical harm.

People received safe care because there were enough staff, with the right skills and knowledge to care for people safely. The service’s recruitment procedure ensured that as far as possible, all staff employed were suitable and safe to work with vulnerable people. People were given their medicines in the right amounts at the right times by properly trained staff. However, some records were not completed accurately and some guidelines for the use of medicines to be taken, as required, were not available.

The management team and staff protected people’s human and civil rights. The staff team understood the relevance of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and consent issues which related to the people in their care. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 legislation provides a legal framework that sets out how to act to support people who do not have capacity to make a specific decision. DoLS provides a lawful way to deprive someone of their liberty, provided it is in their own best interests or is necessary to keep them from harm. The staff team took the necessary action to make sure they upheld people’s rights and the management team made the appropriate DoLS referrals to the Local Authority (Supervisory body).

Staff were properly trained and supported to enable them to meet people’s health and well-being needs. People were supported to make sure they received health and well-being care from appropriate professionals. Staff were trained in a variety of areas of care, so that they could meet the complexity and diversity of changing needs presented by the people in their care.

The service had a strong culture of person centred care which recognised that people were individuals with their own needs and preferences. Staff built relationships with people so that they were able to provide more effective care. Staff encouraged people to make as many decisions and choices as they could to enable them to keep as much control of their daily lives, as was possible. People were treated with kindness, dignity and respect at all times.

People benefitted from a well-managed and improving service. The management team was described by staff as very supportive and approachable. Staff told us the management team that had been in the home for approximately four months had made improvements to the care provided. The service had a number of ways of listening to people and making sure they maintained and improved the quality of care provided. Improvements had been made as a result of quality checks and listening to the views of people, other professionals, people’s relatives and the staff team.