Updated 25 April 2024
Averill House is a care home providing personal and nursing care and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury for up to 48 adults, people living with dementia and people living with mental health conditions. At the time of the assessment, there were 46 people living at the home. We carried out our onsite assessment on 5 June 2024 and offsite activity began on 6 June 2024 and ended on 2 July 2024. We looked at 7 quality statements. We found 1 breach of the legal regulations in relation to safe care and treatment. The service did not have safe systems for appropriate and safe handling of medicines. We found no evidence people had been harmed at the time of inspection, however people were placed at risk of harm as medicines were not managed safely. This was a continued breach of safe care and treatment. People did feel safe and well cared for by the staff, however, we found risks to people weren’t always thoroughly assessed and recorded strategies to manage risk was not always robust. Care records were being streamlined to move across to an electronic care planning system, but we were not assured all information in written care records was accurate and up to date. People felt staff were kind and caring and promoted their independence. Relatives freely visited the home and spoke positively about the staff and registered manager. People and relatives were able to give feedback on care, however, we found they were not always involved in reviewing their care plans and risk assessments to ensure they reflected people’s needs and wishes. Governance processes did not always highlight where there were gaps in care records and where improvements were required for the safe management of thickening products to aid swallowing.