Archived: Oak Park Care Home

Oak Park Care Home is a purpose built care home on the outskirts of Dewsbury. The home provides accommodation for up to 66 people on three floors. The care provided is for people who mainly have needs associated with those of older people; this includes a dedicated unit on the first floor for people living with dementia. There were 44 people living at the home on the first day of our inspection.

There is a registered manager in place who has been registered since the home first opened. 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.

People told us they felt safe living at the home. There were systems and processes in place to protect people from the risk of harm. Assessments identified risks to people and management plans were in place to reduce the risks and ensure people’s safety. Staff we spoke with had been trained and were knowledgeable about safeguarding people. They were able to explain the procedures to follow should an allegation of abuse be made.

Medicines were stored safely and procedures were in place to ensure medicines were administered safely. We saw people received their medicines in a timely way from staff who had been trained to carry out this role.

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. The registered manager had complied with their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). They had a good understanding of when a person might be deprived of their liberty.

People we spoke with said they were very happy with the meals provided and were involved in choosing what they wanted to eat and were offered alternatives to the set menu if they preferred. Mealtimes were a relaxed and enjoyable experience for people at the home and staff supported people with dignity and respect.

Staff interacted with people with warmth and respect and we saw the atmosphere in the home was friendly and supportive. Staff were able to spend time chatting and laughing with people. People spoke highly of the staff who cared for them and felt able to raise any concerns with staff.

Care files were person centred and evidenced people were involved in their care planning when appropriate. Families had also been consulted with to ensure preferences and views were considered when devising support plans.

The management team provided visible leadership and their vision was to provide a high quality service. Staff told us how supportive management were and told us they enjoyed their roles as carers. The registered provider was actively involved and visited the home regularly to ensure they could support the registered manager to develop the home and recognised building a home from new had its challenges.

The home was well maintained and regular audits were undertaken to benchmark the service and highlight where improvements were required.