Meadowbanks Care Home

Updated 4 October 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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 unannounced comprehensive inspection took place on 08 August 2017 and was carried out by 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.

Before the inspection, we reviewed all the information we held about the service such as notifications. A notification is information about events that by law the registered persons should tell us about such as safeguarding alerts and serious incidents. We also obtained feedback from the local authority for their views about the service. In April 2017, the provider sent us a Provider Information Return (PIR). The PIR is a form that asks the provider to give us some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We looked at the information the provider had submitted and reviewed previous inspection reports.

During our inspection we spoke with sixteen people, four relatives and made observations of care being provided. We spoke with five care staff, the registered manager, deputy manager, a chef, a district nurse and one domestic staff.

We looked at three care plans and other records relating to people’s care, such as five turn charts, two catheter care records and 10 medicine administration records. We also looked at recent fall logs, accidents and incidents records, ten staff files, training records and other records kept in the service.

Updated 4 October 2017

This unannounced inspection took place took place on 8 August 2017. The service was last inspected in March 2015 and we rated the service Good. At this inspection, the service continued to be rated Good.

Meadowbanks Care Home provides accommodation and personal care to 40 older people. At the time of our inspection, 35 people were using the service.

A registered manager was in post. 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 in the service. Risks to people, such as falls, were identified and managed to support people as safely as possible.

The service had made improvements in medication management following recommendations we made at our last inspection. People received their medicines safely from staff who were trained to do so. Medicines were recorded correctly after they were administered.

The premises were safe, clean and regularly maintained. Some damage had occurred to the building and the provider had taken action to resolve the situation and ensure people and staff were safe.

Staff received training on how to keep people safe and were able to describe the actions they would take if they had any concerns about people’s safety. The provider also had a whistleblowing policy which staff were aware of and they knew how to report on concerns they had.

The provider had safe recruitment procedures in place and carried out checks on new applicants. There were enough staff working at the service to meet people’s needs.

Staff were supported with regular training, meetings and supervision. Staff work performance was reviewed on a yearly basis. Staff told us they were not fully confident in meeting the needs of people who exhibited behaviours that posed a risk to themselves and other people.

The provider had systems in place to support people who lacked capacity to make decisions for themselves. Staff received training about the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS).

We have made a recommendation about seeking further guidance and additional training for staff on the MCA and managing behaviours that challenge the service, for further staff development.

Staff ensured people had access to appropriate healthcare treatment and that their nutritional needs were met so that people’s health and wellbeing was maintained.

Staff were aware of people’s habits, routines and preferences. People were treated with dignity and their choices were respected. Staff encouraged people to be as independent as possible.

People received personalised care and support, to ensure their individual needs were met. They were encouraged to participate in activities and pursue any hobbies and interests.

People and relatives were able to make complaints and they were confident their concerns would be addressed and investigated. They were also able to make compliments and suggestions to the management team.

Staff felt supported by the management team. The provider had systems in place to monitor the quality of the service provided to people. The registered manager and the provider worked well together to ensure improvements were made.