- Care home
Alexander Court Nursing Home
Report from 27 February 2024 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Alexander Court is a nursing home providing accommodation and personal care to older people. The service can support up to 60 people. At the time of this assessment, there were 29 people living at Alexander Court. This is the first assessment of this newly registered service. This assessment did not cover all parts of our Single Assessment Framework; therefore, we have only updated scores and ratings for those areas which we have assessed. We will carry out future assessments to cover other parts of the Framework and will update our website and findings. The inspection was prompted by concerns received about safe care and support and management of the service. We looked at 14 quality statements during this assessment. During our assessment, we found two breaches of the legal regulations in relation to safe care and treatment and governance. People’s care plans contained contradictory or missing information. Medicines were not always managed safely. Governance systems and audits had not been consistently implemented and were not effective in identifying or addressing areas for improvement.
People's experience of this service
While people we spoke to expressed that they were generally happy with their care, our assessment found elements of care that did not meet the expected standard. People said they felt safe living at Alexander Court. One person commented, “I can’t fault them at all. I feel safe; there’s always someone about. I can press the buzzer, and the staff will come.” People and relatives said since the new provider had taken over, there was an overall feeling of change for the better, but further improvements were still needed. People were involved in decisions about their care and support. One person said, “I’ve read my care plan to check it doesn’t say anything I don’t like, if it did, I’d get it changed.” People gave us mixed feedback about staffing levels. Comments included, “There’s not enough staff; they are short of carers, but usually there’s someone when I want one” and “The staff are busy but always there.” People said the food had improved but that there still needed to be more variety. One person commented, “There is a lack of variety. Sometimes there’s a proper second option, but it is usually jacket potatoes. There’s a lot of casseroles, cottage, and shepherd’s pie.” Overall, people said they were treated with dignity and respect. However, some people said their privacy and dignity was not always upheld. For example, some people said staff did not always knock before entering their bedroom.