Archived: Russell Churcher Court

Updated 12 January 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 was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, looked at the overall quality of the service, and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

The inspection took place on the 14 November and was unannounced. The inspection was carried out by an inspector 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.

Prior to the inspection we reviewed previous inspection reports and information we held about the service including notifications (a notification is information about important events which the service is required to tell us about by law). This Information helped us to identify and address potential areas of concern.

During the inspection we spoke to eight people living at Russell Churcher, three visitors and two external health professionals. To help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us we spent time observing interactions between staff and people who lived in the home. We also spoke to the registered manager, the chief executive of the charity, five care staff, housekeeping staff and the cook. We looked at the care records for four people and sampled another two and the medicines administration records for 22 people. We reviewed five staff files in relation to their recruitment, supervision and appraisals, the staff training matrix and the staff duty rota for four weeks. We also looked at a range of records relating to the management of the service such as accidents, complaints, quality audits and policies and procedures.

Updated 12 January 2017

This inspection took place on 14 November 2016 and was unannounced.

Russell Churcher is a care home that does not provide nursing. It provides support for up to 44 older people, some of whom are living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 44 people living at the home. Accommodation is over two floors and lifts were available.

A registered manager was in place. 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.

Medicines were not managed safely as records did not show how to administer covert medicines and records did not always reflect how much medicines had been given.

People’s care had been appropriately assessed however, plans had not consistently been developed to ensure that staff met people’s needs consistently and reduced and identified risks.

People confirmed they felt safe and that staff involved them in making decisions and staff knew people well.

Observation demonstrated people’s consent was sought before staff provided care.

People described staff as lovely and caring. Staff treated people with respect and recognised the importance of promoting independence, dignity and privacy.

Staff demonstrated a good understanding of safeguarding people at risk. They were confident any concerns raised would be acted upon by management and knew what action to take if they were not. However, they were unsure about the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. The manager told us that they had yet to make ten DoLS assessments for people where it was felt they were at risk of being deprived of their liberty. We have asked that we be informed on when they have made their assessments.

Recruitment checks were carried out and the provider ensured there were enough staff on duty to meet people’s needs. Staff received an induction when they first started work which helped them to understand their roles and responsibilities. They felt supported through supervision and training.

People and their relatives knew how to make a complaint and these were managed in line with the provider’s policy. Systems were in place to gather people’s views and assess and monitor the quality of the service. Records were not appropriately maintained in a number of areas including care plans and risk assessments.

We found two breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.