Archived: Park House

Updated 11 December 2021

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.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector, a medicines inspector 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.

Service and service type

Park House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a 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 did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that the provider is 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.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we held about the service, including the statutory notifications we had received from the provider. Statutory notifications are reports about changes, events or incidents the provider is legally obliged to send to us. We contacted the local authority commissioning and safeguarding teams and Healthwatch to request feedback. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people who used the service and seven relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 12 members of staff including the manager, regional manager and head of quality manager. We reviewed a range of records. This included care records for six people and multiple medicines records. We looked at recruitment records for three staff and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 11 December 2021

About the service

Park House is a care home providing accommodation and personal and nursing care to up to 50 people. Accommodation is provided across two floors in one adapted building. At the time of our inspection 27 people were living at the home.

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

The service was not always well-led. Systems were not always effective in monitoring quality and driving improvements across the service. Audits had not always been effective in identifying issues. Where an audit had identified shortfalls action plans had not always been implemented to deliver improvements. There were gaps in the records to evidence government guidance was followed in relation to testing for COVID-19.

Medicines were managed safely however; medicines records were not always accurately maintained. Accidents and incidents were documented. Trend analysis reviews had not always taken place to consider if any actions were necessary to improve outcomes for people.

There were sufficient staff deployed to meet the needs of people. Contingency plans were in place in the event of staffing shortages. Systems for the safe recruitment of staff were in place. However, employment gaps for potential employees had not always been considered in the recruitment process. We have made a recommendation about this.

Staff understood their safeguarding responsibilities and were aware of how to escalate any concerns if this was necessary. A range of risk assessments were in place to help ensure the safety of people and the environment.

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 good (published 18 July 2019).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to staffing, medicines, care delivery, management arrangements, testing for COVID-19, record keeping and the management of falls. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvement. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Park House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We have identified one breach in relation to good governance at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.