Allendale House

Updated 12 January 2018

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.

This inspection was carried out on 8 November 2017 and was unannounced.

The inspection team was made up of two inspectors and one expert by experience (ExE) with experience of older people. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

We did not ask the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) before this inspection. 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.

Before our inspection we reviewed all the information we had about the service, including notifications sent by the provider to inform us of events that had occurred at the service. We also looked at the last inspection and spoke with the local authority commissioners and the safeguarding team.

During our inspection, we spoke with five people who used the service and two visiting relatives. We spoke with the manager, deputy manager, four care staff and one ancillary member of staff.

We were shown around the building and looked at communal areas and, with people's permission, some private bedrooms. We observed interactions between staff and people who used the service throughout the inspection.

We reviewed the care records for two people who used the service. We also looked at seven people’s medication administration records, accidents and incidents, maintenance and other records relating to the management of the service such as staff duty rotas, meeting minutes, health and safety records, and training records.

Updated 12 January 2018

This inspection took place on the 8 November 2017 and was unannounced.

Allendale House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service provides accommodation and personal care for a maximum of 20 older people, some of whom may be living with dementia. It is located close to the centre of the market town of Hedon, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and within walking distance of shops, leisure and health services. At the time of our inspection there were 16 people using the service.

We last carried out a comprehensive inspection of this service on 25 August 2015. At the last inspection we rated the service overall Good with requires improvement for the key question "Is the service safe."

We recommended the registered provider ensured people always received their medication safely according to the policy, which should include information on administering medicines safely, and whenever possible in private to maintain peoples’ dignity. At this inspection we found improvements had been made. We found the service remained Good overall.

At the time of our inspection the service did not have a registered manager. The manager in post was in the process of applying to become the registered manager and an application to register with the Care Quality Commission had been submitted in October 2017. 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.

Recruitment processes were safe and staffing levels were sufficient to meet people’s needs.

Staff knew how to keep people safe and understood their duty to protect people from the risk of abuse. Risks were managed so that people were protected from avoidable harm.

There were systems in place to ensure people’s medicines were safely managed. We found people received their medicines as prescribed.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People received food and drink according to their needs and were also supported by health and social care professionals when required.

We observed positive interactions between people and staff. People told us staff were kind and caring towards them and the care they received was good.

Each person had a care plan that was suitably detailed to ensure they were at the centre of their care. People's care and support was kept under review and, where appropriate, they were involved in decisions about their care.

People told us they were happy with the activities organised at the service. People were aware of how to raise any concerns they had.

There were effective systems in place to monitor the quality of the service to ensure people received a good service that supported their health, welfare and well-being.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.