Archived: Uplands Nursing Home

Updated 10 March 2020

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors, an assistant inspector and a specialist advisor on the first day and two inspectors on the second day. The specialist advisor was a healthcare professional with a nursing background.

Service and service type

Uplands Nursing Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means they are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced on the first day with an announced visit on the second day.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete the required Provider Information Return. This is information providers send to us with key information about the service, what it does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account in making our judgements in this report. We also reviewed feedback available through Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with eight people who lived at the home and five relatives about their experience of the care provided. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We also spoke with five staff including care and domestic staff, the clinical lead, two nurses and the registered manager.

We reviewed a range of records. This included eight people’s care records and 10 medication records. We looked at one staff file in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We spoke with four relatives and requested additional data relating to medicine records and action taken following issues identified at the inspection.

Updated 10 March 2020

About the service

Uplands Nursing Home is a care home providing personal and nursing care to 30 people at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 38 people. The home accommodates people within one large, extended and adapted home across the ground and first floors. Some rooms had en-suite facilities and there were also a small number of shared bedrooms.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Since the last inspection there had been some improvement to the provider’s governance systems to monitor the delivery and quality of the service provided for people. However, further improvement was required to make sure governance processes were embedded into staff working practices.

People were safe using the service. Staff knew how to protect people from risk of harm and reduce the risk of accidents and incidents. At the time of our site visit, we found there were enough suitably recruited staff on duty to meet people’s needs and to keep people safe. People were supported by staff who knew their needs well. Staff supported people with their medicines and this was done safely. Staff understood how to prevent and control the spread of infection.

People had been assessed before being accepted to the service to ensure the provider could meet their needs. Assessments addressed people's physical and health needs, their cultural and language needs, and what was important to them. Staff received training which helped them to deliver personalised care. People were happy with the choice of food available and where appropriate, received additional support with their dietary needs. The provider worked well with external health and social care professionals and people were supported to access these services to maintain their health.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service required some improvement to ensure the provider continued to support this practice.

Staff were knowledgeable about people’s care and support needs. People and relatives told us how friendly and caring the staff were. Staff enjoyed their work and got on well with the people they supported. Staff encouraged people’s independence, protected their privacy and treated them with dignity.

Some of the people using the service at the time of the inspection could not always tell us about their experiences. However, whilst on site, we saw positive interactions between people and staff and people looked comfortable with the way they were supported. Relatives we spoke with gave us positive feedback on the service and were happy with the way the staff supported their family members to remain safe. Staff provided care to people in line with their preferences and choices. If people communicated non-verbally staff knew how to engage with them.

People were supported by staff who knew their preferences. Complaints made since the last inspection had been investigated and families knew who to contact if they had any concerns. Relatives and staff were happy with the way the service was being led and there was a culture amongst the staff team in providing person-centred care.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection: The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 27 March 2019) and there was one breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.