Archived: Gilbert Scott Care Home

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 27 and 28 July 2015. Breaches of legal requirements were found. After the comprehensive inspection, the provider wrote to us to say what they would do to meet legal requirements in relation to the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, Regulations 10 and 11.

We undertook this focused inspection to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements. We also followed up other areas where the provider needed to improve the service, although they had not breached legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to these issues. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Gilbert Scott Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

This inspection was unannounced and took place on 3 December 2015.

Gilbert Scott is a care home which provides accommodation and personal care for up to four people with a learning disability who may also have additional complex needs. During our inspection there were four people living at the home. The people living at Gilbert Scott were unable to verbally communicate their needs and relied on staff to support them with all aspects of their care and support.

There was a registered manager, however they were absent from the service. 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. The registered manager had been absent since November 2015. A manager who was registered with another location was managing the home in their absence.

At the last inspection we found people’s rights were not fully protected because procedures were not always followed where people lacked capacity to make decisions for themselves. At this inspection we found the correct procedures had been followed. Where decisions were made for people the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 were adhered to and staff were able to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of these processes.

At the last inspection we observed mixed interactions between staff and people. Staff did not always demonstrate a good knowledge of the people they were supporting or respond to their needs. We found some of the interactions did not promote dignity and respect. Some of the comments recorded about people in records did not promote an understanding of people’s needs. At this inspection we found staff demonstrated an understanding of people’s needs and how they responded to them. Staff had attended training on how to record information and they told us the importance of using the correct terminology when recording information.

The inspection took place on 27 and 28 July 2015 and was unannounced.

Gilbert Scott is a care home which provides accommodation and personal care for up to five people with a learning disability who may also have additional complex needs. During our inspection there were four people living at the home. The people living at Gilbert Scott were unable to verbally communicate their needs and relied on staff to support them with all aspects of their care and support.

There was a registered manager in post at the service. 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.

The registered manager did not have effective systems in place to monitor the quality of the service. The Department of Health’s Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance was not being followed at the time of our inspection. There were areas of the home requiring maintenance and repair. The registered manager told us there were plans to improve the environment, however these were on hold due to the home potentially closing.

We found people’s rights were not fully protected as the registered manager had not followed correct procedures where people lacked capacity to make decisions for themselves. We observed where decisions were made for people the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 were not always followed.

Staff understood the importance of recording incidents, however the records did not always include enough details of the incident.

Our observations of staff interactions was mixed, staff did not always demonstrate a good knowledge of the people they were supporting or respond appropriately to their needs. Staff were supporting people to raise complaints as they were unable to verbally communicate these. The complaints were recorded however recent complaints had not been reviewed by the registered manager and there were no recorded outcomes.

People did not have an inclusive mealtime experience, staff served meals through a hatch and people were locked out of the kitchen unless staff were present.

People’s relatives told us they thought their family members were safe living at Gilbert Scott. Staff knew how to recognise potential signs of abuse and were aware of their responsibility to report this. There were enough staff available to meet people’s needs.

There were recruitment procedures in place to ensure only staff with suitable character were employed by the organisation. Staff received appropriate training to understand their role and to ensure the care and support provided to people was safe. New members of staff received an induction which included shadowing experienced staff before working independently.

People’s medicines were administered safely. The service had appropriate systems in place to ensure medicines were stored correctly and securely. People received their medicines when they needed them.

Plans were in place to manage risk relating to peoples care. Relatives told us they were aware of and involved in reviewing the risk assessments.

People’s needs were set out in individual care plans. The plans set out what people could do for themselves and the support they required from staff. The care plans were regularly reviewed and updated by staff. Relatives told us they were involved in planning and reviewing their family members care.

People had access to a house vehicle and were able to access the community.

Relatives told us they felt confident about raising concerns with the team leaders or registered manager. The service collated feedback from people’s relatives in order to obtain their views on the service.

We found breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.

We have made recommendations to the provider, you can see what the recommendations were in the full version of the report.