Background to this inspection
Updated
6 March 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 was 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.
The inspection took place on 13 January 2015 and was unannounced. It was undertaken by two inspectors.
Before our inspection we looked at all the information we held about the home. This included information from notifications. Notifications are events that the provider is required by law to inform us of. We also looked at the provider information return (PIR). This is a form in which we ask the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and any improvements that they plan to make. We also made contact with NHS continuing health care commissioners and a local authority contract monitoring officer.
Due to the complex communication needs of some of the people living at the care home, we carried out a Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a specific way of observing care to help us understand the experiences of people who could not talk to us.
We observed how the staff interacted with people and how they were supported during their lunch. We spoke with 19 people who used the service and four visiting family members. We also spoke with the registered manager, deputy manager, the clinical lead nurse, nine care staff, the activity co-ordinator and three housekeeping staff.
We also looked at six people’s care records, staff training and recruitment records, and records relating to the management of the service including audits and policies.
Updated
6 March 2015
The Cambridge Nursing Centre is registered to provide accommodation, nursing care and personal care for up to 90 older people. There were 61 people living at the home at the time of our inspection.
This unannounced inspection took place on 13 January 2015. At our previous inspection on 14 April 2014 we found the provider was not meeting all the regulations that we looked at. We found concerns in relation to infection control, medicine administration, supporting staff, care and welfare of people, quality assurance, safeguarding, meeting nutritional needs and consent to care and treatment. A warning notice was served around infection control. A further inspection was conducted on 12 June 2014 to check that the provider had met the required standard for infection control. Whilst we found that improvements had been made the auditing process in respect of infection control they were not being consistently completed and some audits were still to be introduced. Therefore we required further action to be taken to make the required improvements.
At the time of this inspection the home had a registered manager. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
During this inspection we found that there had been improvements in all of the areas where were previously identified concerns, with the exception of the environment where we found that one area still had malodour and a programme of refurbishment was still in progress.
We found that staff treated people in a way that they liked and there were sufficient numbers of staff to safely meet people’s needs. People received care which had maintained their health and well-being. Relatives were very happy with the care provided
Medicines were stored correctly and records showed that people had received their medication as prescribed. Staff had received appropriate training for their role in medicine management.
Staff supported each person according to their needs. This included people at risk of malnutrition or dehydration who were being supported to receive sufficient quantities to eat and drink.
Staff respected people’s privacy and dignity. They knocked on people’s bedroom doors and waited for a response before entering. People told us that staff ensured doors were shut when they were assisting them with their personal care.
People’s needs were clearly recorded in their plans of care so that staff had the information they needed to provide care in a consistent way. Care plans were regularly reviewed to ensure they accurately reflected people’s current needs.
People confirmed they were offered a variety of hobbies and interests to take part in and people were able to change their minds if they did not wish to take part in these
Effective quality assurance systems were in place to monitor the service and people’s views were sought and used to improve it. The registered manager had been bringing about change to support staff to ensure that people were receiving a good quality of care and support.