Archived: Oakleaf Nursing Home

Updated 5 November 2020

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 the inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted as part of our Thematic Review of infection prevention in care homes.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors and a specialist advisor who had a nursing background.

Service and service type

Oakleaf Nursing Home 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 home consists of two floors, with only the ground floor being used at the time of our inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to establish the current status of residents and staff members in relation to COVID-19.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the records held on this service. 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.

This is the first inspection of Oakleaf Nursing Home since the service had a change of provider. We reviewed information we had received about the home since this change took place. We sought feedback from the local authority and other professionals who work with the service. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service and telephoned four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with nine members of staff including the nominated individual, registered manager, finance manager, nurses, senior carers, carers and domestic staff. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at staff rotas and health and safety documents.

Updated 5 November 2020

About the service

Oakleaf Nursing Home is a care home providing personal and nursing care for up to 59 people, aged 65 and over. At the time of our inspection 13 people were using the service.

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

We found the home was in need of redecoration and repair to provide people with a homely environment. Furniture that was being used by people was not always clean. Staff were not always following guidelines to prevent the spread of infection.

There were systems to audit and monitor the service in place, but these did not always identify issues such as gaps in the recruitment process. The provider and registered manager had improvement plans in place and had concentrated on establishing a skilled staff team and safe working practices to promote good health for people.

People’s care was not always person centred and there was a lack of meaningful activities taking place. Care plans had not been updated during COVID-19 to address the impact it was having on people’s social activities. The home could not demonstrate what steps had been taken to combat the risk of social isolation to people.

We found people were protected from potential abuse and avoidable harm by staff that had safeguarding training and knew about the different types of abuse. People’s medication was managed safely and people with health risks were regularly monitored.

We found there were sufficient numbers of staff members on duty and people felt safe. Staff spoke positively about working for the provider. They felt supported by management and valued in their role.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 01/10/2019 and this is the first inspection of this service under the new provider.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns about the history of the service requiring improvement. 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 remained requires improvement.

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

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.