• Care Home
  • Care home

North Park

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

L'Anson Street, Darlington, County Durham, DL3 0SW (01325) 356000

Provided and run by:
Barchester Healthcare Homes Limited

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 5 October 2022

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.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

One inspector and an Expert by Experience carried out this inspection. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

North Park 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. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This information helps support our inspections. 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. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people who used the service and eight relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with five members of staff, the registered manager and regional manager. We reviewed a range of records. These included four people’s care records and eight people’s medication records. We looked at staff records in relation to recruitment and other records relating to the management of the service, including; audits, accidents and incidents, safety checks on equipment, minutes of meetings, policies and procedures and quality assurance records.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at quality assurance and records relating to the management of the service.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 5 October 2022

About the service

North Park is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to 55 older people and people living with dementia at the time of our inspection. The service can support up to 60 people in one adapted building over three floors.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People and their relatives told us they felt safe and secure living at North Park and feedback was positive about the home and the management of the home. 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.

Medicines were administered, recorded and managed safely. Infection prevention control practices were in place. All essential visitors had to wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). Additional cleaning of all areas and frequent touch surfaces was in place and recorded regularly by staff. COVID-19 related training was in place to support infection control practices.

There were systems in place for communicating with people, their relatives and staff regarding people’s care and support. The environment was clean, safe and maintained to a good standard. It was also adapted to meet people’s needs.

Individualised risk assessments were in place to ensure people could take risks safely. Staff were confident about how to raise concerns to safeguard people. Robust recruitment and selection procedures ensured suitable staff were employed safely.

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 good (published 11 December 2019).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

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.

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.