Springdale

Updated 23 November 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 inspection took place on 30 October 2018 and was unannounced. The inspection team consisted of two inspectors and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Prior to this inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service. This included important events the service must tell us about by law, previous inspection reports, any information we received from the public about the service and the provider’s Provider Information Return (PIR). The PIR is a document completed by the provider that tells us what they feel they do well and what improvements they plan to make to the service.

We spoke with six people who lived in the home, eleven relatives and five staff which included care, kitchen and domestic staff. We also spoke with the deputy manager, registered manager and three people who represented the provider. These were the dementia lead, wellbeing lead and the regional director.

The records we viewed included seven people’s care records, five people’s medicine records, two staff recruitment records, staff training records and other information in relation to how the provider and registered manager monitored the quality of care people received.

Updated 23 November 2018

This comprehensive inspection took place on 30 October 2018 and was unannounced.

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

Springdale is registered to accommodate up to 36 people. Care is provided over two floors. There are communal areas that people can reside in along with space for dining on the ground floor. At the time of our inspection visit, 32 people were living in the home.

A registered manager worked in the home. 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 the last inspection of Springdale, we rated the home overall as Requires Improvement. This was because some equipment that people used such as commodes were unclean, staff were not consistently caring and improvements were needed to the provider’s governance systems. This resulted in three breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

Following the last inspection, we asked the provider to complete an action plan to show what they would do and by when to improve the key question of safe, caring, responsive and well led to at least good. At this inspection we found that improvements had been made in most areas and therefore, the provider was no longer in breach of any regulations. The overall rating for the home has now changed from requires improvement to good.

People received care from kind, caring and compassionate staff who treated them with dignity and respect. Systems were in place to protect people from the risk of abuse. Staff had received sufficient training and supervision to provide people with effective care and they had sought people’s consent in line with the relevant legislation.

Most risks to people’s safety had been assessed and managed well and there were enough staff available to meet people’s individual needs and preferences.

People had received their oral medicines appropriately however, some people had not received their prescribed creams as they should have done.

There were several activities that people could participate in to enhance their wellbeing and people had choice and control over how they wanted to receive their care.

The home had been adapted to meet people’s needs and regular checks were in place to ensure it was safe for people to live in. It was also clean as was the equipment that people used such as commodes, wheelchairs and crash mats. Staff used good practice to reduce the risk of the spread of infection.

A culture of treating people as individuals and of providing compassionate care had been instilled within the home. The provider, staff and management had a drive to continuously improve the quality of care people received. This was achieved by consulting people who lived in the home, relatives and with outside professionals and the community.

Staff had good morale, received clear direction and leadership and were happy working in the home. There was an open culture where people living in the home, relatives or staff could voice their opinion that would be listened to and respected.

Most of the provider’s governance systems had been effective at monitoring the quality and safety of care people received. However, these had not identified all issues which had exposed people to the risk of avoidable harm. The registered manager took immediate action to correct this during our inspection of this service.

Although improvements had been made within the home since the last inspection, the current registered manager had only been appointed temporarily and was the third manager to run the home since 2014. Therefore, a period of stability is required to ensure that the improvements witnessed at this inspection are sustained.