Archived: Riverside Care Centre

Updated 15 June 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 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 comprehensive inspection took place on 16 and 17 May 2018; the first day was unannounced. The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector, an assistant inspector and an expert-by-experience on the first day, and one adult social care inspector on the second day. 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 the inspection. This is a form the provider completes to give some key information about the home, what the home does well and improvements they plan to make.

In preparation for our visit, we reviewed information that we held about the home such as notifications (events which happened in the home that the provider is required to tell us about) and information that had been sent to us by other agencies. We also looked at the recent report (March 2018) from Healthwatch Lancashire.

During our inspection visit, we spent time observing how staff provided support for people to help us better understand their experiences of the care they received. We spoke with ten people living in the home, three visitors, four care staff, the administrator and the registered manager. We also spoke with two visiting healthcare professionals.

We had a tour of the premises and looked at a range of documents and written records including six people's care records, three staff recruitment files, training records, medication records, a sample of policies and procedures, meeting minutes and records relating to the auditing and monitoring of service provision.

Prior to the inspection, we were made aware there had been a fire on Riverside House. At that time people were evacuated safely and then returned to the House. There was residual damage to a linen store. We looked at the enforcement notice which was issued following an investigation undertaken by the Lancashire Fire and Rescue service. Following the inspection, we spoke with the Lancashire Fire and Rescue fire safety advisor who had undertaken the investigation. We also looked at the report from the local authority contracts monitoring team (April 2018) and from a recent report from the clinical commissioning group medicines optimisation team (March 2018).

Following the inspection, we asked the registered manager to send us some information; this was forwarded promptly.

Updated 15 June 2018

We carried out an inspection of Riverside Care Centre on 16 and 17 May 2018. The first day was unannounced.

Riverside Care Centre is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as 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.

Riverside Care Centre provides accommodation and care and support for up to 40 people, most of who were living with dementia. The service does not provide nursing care. There were 26 people accommodated in the home at the time of the inspection.

The service is located in the village of Sawley near Clitheroe in Lancashire’s Ribble Valley. It is not on a bus route and people would need to walk a distance to get to the home. Accommodation is provided in two houses, which are joined by a link corridor. Riverside House is an older type property with facilities on two floors, which are accessed by a stair lift. Riverside Court is purpose built on one level with a secure courtyard and plenty of walking space for people. There are well maintained gardens and a car park for visitors.

The registered manager started working in the service in October 2017 and was registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in April 2018. 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.

At our last inspection on January 2017 we found there were no breaches of legal requirements.

During this inspection, our findings demonstrated there were two breaches of the regulations in respect of record keeping and the safety of the premises. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report. We also made a recommendation regarding the safe management of people’s medicines.

We saw records to indicate regular safety checks were carried out on systems and equipment either by service engineers or by the maintenance person. However, fire safety recommendations made in the independent Fire Risk Assessment of January 2018 had not yet been fully addressed, this was also noted by the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service and included in the fire safety enforcement notice served at the time of the inspection. We also found the water temperatures in some bedrooms and bathrooms were not maintained at the recommended temperatures.

We found the provider had failed to maintain accurate records in relation to people’s care and the overall management of the service. We found shortfalls in the records relating to medicines management, care and support records and maintenance and servicing records. Some of the shortfalls had been recognised as part of the quality assurance monitoring and appropriate action was being taken.

People told us they felt safe and staff were kind. Safeguarding adults’ procedures were in place and staff understood how to safeguard people from abuse. The registered manager and staff were observed to have positive relationships with people living in the home. People were relaxed in the company of staff and there were no restrictions placed on visiting. People and their relatives felt there were enough staff available and staff had been recruited safely.

People had 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. Staff respected people's diversity and promoted people's right to be free from discrimination. People's dignity and privacy was respected and upheld and staff encouraged people to be as independent as possible.

People were happy with the care and support provided. Each person had an individual care plan, which was sufficiently detailed to ensure they were at the centre of their care. People's care and support was kept under review and they were involved in decisions about their care. However, we found the records did not always reflect the care being given to people. Records supported that the registered manager was aware of the shortfall and action was being taken. Risks associated with people’s health and safety had been identified, assessed and managed safely.

People had access to a range of appropriate activities. People's nutritional needs were monitored and reviewed. People were offered a varied and healthy diet, and their likes and dislikes were known by staff. People’s healthcare needs were met and they had access to healthcare professionals when they needed them.

People told us they were happy and did not have any complaints. They knew how to raise their complaints, concerns and compliments and were confident they would be listened to.

People received their medicines when they needed them. Staff administering medicines had received training to do this safely. However, further improvements were needed to ensure people’s medicines were managed safely at all times.

People were happy with the way the home was managed and we received positive feedback about the registered manager. There were systems in place for assessing, monitoring and developing the quality of the service being provided to people; there was goo evidence that shortfalls had been identified and acted on. People and their relatives were consulted around their care and support and the day to day running of the home.