Archived: Darwin Court Care Centre

During this inspection we spoke with six people living at Darwin Court, we also spoke with 5 visitors who were visiting people living at the home. People were generally complimentary of the service provided at the home. One visitor told us: 'It's fantastic here, the staff genuinely care'. Another visitor said: said: 'It's the little things they (staff) do that make a difference'.

Care plans and risk assessments were in place to support and guide staff in the delivery of care. Improvements to the care planning process had been made in relation to assessments of people who may present behaviours which could be challenging.

We spoke with 18 staff members; they told us that they felt supported in their role. The staff we spoke with, who were newly recruited to the Restful Homes group, had received an induction. Staff told us that they had received mandatory training, supervisions and appraisals. We saw documentation and training records which confirmed this.

In order to target our inspections effectively we gather information about services. This may include information from people who use services, family members or staff. Before an inspection we review the information we hold. In addition to reviewing the two regulations requiring improvements information we received directed us to review the recruitment process and staffing levels.

We found improvements were required to the recruitment process to ensure all documentation relating to pre-employment checks was available. During the inspection we observed that there were enough staff available to support people with their care needs in a timely manner.

You can see our judgements on the front page of this report.

During the inspection we spoke with eight people who lived at the home, four visitors to the service, nine staff members, the registered manager and the provider. People we spoke with were complimentary about the environment, which was a new purpose built home registered to provide care for 112 people. People were also complimentary about the staff. Everyone we spoke with said the staff were polite and courteous.

Care plans and risk assessments were in place to support and guide staff in the delivery of care. However, the care planning process was not robust in relation to assessments of people who may present behaviours which could be challenging. Although an organisational policy was in place we saw this was not being followed.

Staff told us that generally they felt supported in their role. The staff we spoke with, who were newly recruited to the Restful Homes group, had received an induction. Mandatory training, supervisions and appraisals had commenced and were scheduled to continue throughout the year.

Quality monitoring systems were being introduced and auditing of the service was in place. This meant people living, visiting and working at Darwin Court would have the opportunity to comment on the service it provided.