About the service Nunthorpe Oaks care home is a residential care home for up to 56 older people. At the time of inspection 26 people were living at the home.
The care home supports people in one purpose-built building across three floors. There are several communal areas for people to enjoy and there is a large accessible garden.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
We received mixed reviews about staffing levels at night and staff confidence in raising concerns. The regional manager said these concerns would be reviewed straight away. Improvements were needed to management of topical creams and records to manage risks. We have made a recommendation about these concerns. Staff had good knowledge of people’s needs. Good procedures were in place to manage the risks of infection.
People said they received good care. One person said, “I am well looked after; the care is fabulous, it’s fantastic. Staff couldn’t do more for you.” A relative said, “The staff work so hard. The best thing about the home is the caring staff.”
Staff had the right skills and experience to look after people. They took action when people’s health needs changed. People were positive about the menus. People were involved in their care. They had choice about their care and staff respected their decisions.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
The senior leadership team had been focused in their efforts to make improvements to the home. Quality monitoring tools had been effective in identifying where changes needed to be made. Feedback had been addressed and the culture of the home had improved. Staff said they enjoyed working at the home.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
This service was registered with us on 20 July 2019 and this is the first inspection. The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 21 November 2019) and there were two breaches of regulation. The previous provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
The home remains rated requires improvement. It has been rated requires improvement for two consecutive inspections.
Why we inspected
We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 15 October 2019. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment and good governance.
We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions safe, effective and well-led which contain those requirements.
In addition, 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 coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.
The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has remained requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Nunthorpe Oaks care home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
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.