Alexander Court Nursing Home

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

The provider assessed people's health, care, wellbeing, and communication needs. However, some of the assessments contained contradictory or missing information. Further work was underway to ensure support plans contained detailed information to enable people to receive appropriate care and support that was responsive to their needs. Staff recognised and responded to changes to individual's needs.

This service scored 33 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

People and their relatives were fully involved in decisions about their care. Their relatives and friends where appropriate were actively involved in developing their plan of care. A communication care plan was completed for each person. This helped to identify how to provide information to the person, so it was accessible and tailored to meet their needs.

People's needs and choices were assessed in line with current legislation and guidance. This helped to prevent discrimination and followed best practice guidance to reduce risks associated with their personal care. For example, staff used nationally recognised best practice guidance to identify and monitor people at risk of falls, skin breakdown or dehydration and malnutrition. Assessment of people's needs, including in relation to protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 were considered in people's admission assessments and care plans. Assessments were detailed and included the support people needed with mobility, personal care, communication, mental and physical health and relationships that were important to them.

Staff assessed people's needs using a range of assessment tools to ensure their needs were reflected and understood.

We observed lunch being served on both floors. Some staff were providing additional guidance to staff to ensure people's needs were being met. There was a calm atmosphere, and people were offered a choice of meals. We saw staff kindly engaging with people, encouraging them to eat or offering drinks.

People made mixed comments about the quality of the food provided. People said there needed to be more choice of foods on offer. Comments included, “Changes in the variety of foods available would improve the dining experience for people” and “Most days it’s the same food, we need variety. It’s always omelettes and jackets.”

Staff were aware of the people who needed a specialised diet and/or soft diet to ensure their needs were met. The management team told us staff made referrals to ensure people’s health needs were met. We saw this reflected in people's care plans.

People told us they were able to see their doctor, dentist, or optician whenever they needed to. Records we looked at confirmed this.

The provider worked in partnership with external professionals. We found evidence the provider worked with professionals such as district nurses and speech and language therapists so that people could have their expert input alongside the provider to promote meeting people's needs effectively. Staff shared information with each other during the day about people's daily personal care. Staff also kept notes regarding health concerns for people and action taken. This enabled staff to monitor people's health and ensure they accessed health and social care services when required. These care notes were regularly reviewed by management to check that people were being seen by appropriate professionals in a timely way.

We did not look at Supporting people to live healthier lives during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at Monitoring and improving outcomes during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

People told us they could make everyday decisions, so care and support was delivered in a way which suited them. However, people's dignity and privacy was not consistently upheld.

Records relating to consent and capacity need improvement. For example, records did not always demonstrate that people or their legal representatives had consented to their care. Despite the issues with records, we saw no indication people's rights were restricted.

Staff told us they placed great importance on maintaining and promoting people’s independence. They were able to explain how they encouraged and supported people to be as independent as possible and to make choices.We observed staff promoted people’s independence with making choices and encouraged them to take part in activities and household tasks. Staff used prompts and guided people when they needed support. We saw staff treated people with kindness and patience.While staff gave us positive feedback about maintaining and promoting people’s independence our assessment found elements of care did not meet the expected standard.