Archived: The Elms Care Home

Updated 22 June 2015

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 20 and 21 January 2015 and was unannounced.

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors, a specialist advisor and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has experience either directly or indirectly in using health and social care services. They were there to speak to people who used the service, relatives and make general observations. A specialist advisor is someone who is currently practicing in their field of expertise and who can give advice on a particular topic. The specialist advisor for this visit was one with expert knowledge in dementia.

Before the inspection we reviewed other information that we held about the service. This included notifications, which are events which happened in the service that the provider is required to tell us about and information that had been sent to us by other agencies. On this occasion we did not request a provider information return.

We also spoke with the local authority and the NHS who commissioned services from the provider in order to get their view on the quality of care provided by the service.

We spoke with nine people who lived at the service, seven relatives, two health care professionals, 11 staff members from across the different staff groups. They were two unit managers, two trained nurses, three senior carers, three care assistants and one cook. We also spoke with the manager and the regional manager. We observed how care and support was provided to people.

We looked at 17 people’s care plan records and other records related to the running of and the quality of the service.

Updated 22 June 2015

The service provides care and support for up to 84 people, some of whom may experience memory loss associated with conditions such as dementia. When we undertook our inspection there were 64 people living at the service.

We inspected The Elms Care Home on 20 and 21 January 2015. This was an unannounced inspection. During our inspection on 21 August 2014 we found there were a number of areas which had breached the Health and Social Care Act (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010. These covered a lack of actions plans and evidence to support tasks and treatment had been completed; staff had not received training in infection control and were unaware of where to go for advice; there was no maintenance plan in place to ensure the environment was kept safe; records were not stored safely; there was no method to calculate the dependency of people who used the service and how many staff were required to meet their needs; staff had not received sufficient supervision and training.

The provider had sent us action plans telling us how they were going to become compliant. We found the actions they said they would complete had been at this inspection. For full details see the main report.

There was not a registered manager in post. 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 manager was in the process of submitting their application to register with us.

CQC is required by law to monitor the operation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and to report on what we find. DoLS are in place to protect people where they do not have capacity to make decisions and where it is considered necessary to restrict their freedom in some way, usually to protect themselves or others. At the time of the inspection there were no people who had their freedom restricted.

We found that most people’s health care needs were assessed, and planned and delivered in a consistent way through the use of a care plan. The information and guidance provided to staff in the care plans was clear. Risks associated with people’s care needs were assessed and plans put in place to minimise risk in order to keep people safe. However we found that some people’s needs had not been thoroughly assessed and responded to in a timely manner.

People received the medicines they had been prescribed. Assessments on people’s ability to give themselves their own medicines was completed when necessary.

People were happy with the service they received. They said staff treated people with respect and were kind and compassionate towards them. People and their relatives found the staff and manager approachable and that they could speak with them at any time if they were concerned about anything.

Staff had the knowledge and skills that they needed to support people. They received training to enable them to understand people’s diverse needs. Staff told us they had formal supervision and support which had recently improved.

The provider had systems in place to regularly monitor, and when needed take action to continuously improve the quality and safety of the service.