Delves Court Care Home

Delves Court Care Home is a nursing home providing personal and nursing care to up to 64 people, including people with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 55 people using the service.

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

People were not always protected from the risk of harm; systems were not effective in assessing, monitoring and mitigating risks to people’s health, safety and welfare. People weren’t always supported by registered nurses for their nursing care needs. There weren’t always sufficient numbers of staff available to help people. This meant people were sometimes left at risk of harm or without timely care.

People didn’t always receive the support they needed to manage weight loss, however people reported they were given meal choices and drinks as required. People were supported by trained staff but had varied experiences of staff skills and practice.

People were not supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not support this practice.

People did not always receive support that was caring and maintained their dignity. Whilst many people found the staff caring and compassionate, a lack of staff sometimes led to shortfalls in people’s experiences. People didn’t always receive adequate support to maintain their independence.

People’s person-centred needs weren’t always at the forefront of their support. However, people were supported with a range of meaningful activities and staff were attentive to people’s emotional and social needs.

Quality assurance systems were not always effective for people. This meant the action taken by the provider had not always ensured people received consistent, good quality and safe care. However, people and relatives spoke positively about the management of the service. Systems were in place to seek feedback and resolve people’s complaints.

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 15 May 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about end of life care and the staffing and safety of the service. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

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

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to how people’s safety was managed, the staffing of the home, how people’s rights were promoted, people’s person-centred needs and how the service was run at this inspection.

Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.

Follow up

We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will work with the local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

We found the following examples of good practice.

• A self-contained unit within the home could care for people safely who had tested positive for Covid-19 in hospital and needed to transfer to a care home. There were systems in place to ensure the safe transfer of meals and laundry to and from the unit which reduced risk of cross transmission.

• Personal Protective Equipment such as masks, gloves and aprons were available to visiting professionals on entry to the designated unit. A screening tool was completed prior to entry to ensure any visitors had not been exposed to Covid-19.

• Staff had been allocated to work solely within the designated unit. They did not work in other parts of the home or in other health or social care services. Staff who used public transport to travel to and from work were being provided with taxi’s which reduced the risk of cross transmission. Staff were provided with confidential mental health support if they required this.

• People staying within the designated setting were being supported to maintain contact with loved ones via video and telephone. Disposable activity boxes that contained magazines and puzzle books were placed in each room to provide entertainment for people while they were isolated.

We were assured that this service met good infection prevention and control guidelines as a designated care setting.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.