Fir Trees

Fir Trees is a residential care home providing personal care to up to maximum of 46 people. The service provides support to older and younger adults, and people living with a physical disability or dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 41 people using the service.

People’s experience of the service and what we found.

The management of risk needed further development to ensure it was sufficiently robust to protect people. The management team were very responsive to any areas of concern raised and these were immediately addressed. Safe recruitment processes were generally followed. Feedback about staffing levels was mixed and the management team advised they would continue to closely monitor this. People told us they felt safe. People’s medicines were safely stored, and they were receiving their medicines as needed.

Some improvements to the environment were needed to ensure it was easy to clean and met the needs of people living with dementia. We have made a recommendation about this. People’s needs were assessed before they moved into Fir Trees, and they were supported to access health care services as needed. Staff felt well supported in their roles and accessed all the training needed. People spoke positively about the food. Information about people’s dietary needs was clear but further work was needed to ensure that this was robustly recorded.

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.

People and families spoke positively about staff who were caring and knew people’s needs and preferences well. Staff were mindful of people’s privacy and discrete when providing support. People were supported to remain independent, and staff supported positive risk taking as much as possible.

People received person-centred care and were supported to engage in activities which were meaningful for them. Records were not always as personalised, but staff understood people’s likes and preferences. People felt able to raise concerns and were confident these would be addressed. People’s communication needs and the accessible information standards were not clearly recorded, and we have made a recommendation about this.

There were various systems for checks of the safety and quality of the service. The registered manager was able to share how feedback was responded to and used to make changes and improvements in the home. The registered manager had an open door policy which feedback from people, families and staff all confirmed. People, families, and staff spoke about the positive culture at the service.

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

Rating at last inspection

The service was registered with us on 27 August 2021, and this is the first inspection under this provider. The last rating for the service under the previous provider was Good (published 28 December 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Recommendations

We have made a recommendation about the environment to ensure it meets the needs of people living at Fir Trees, including for good infection prevention and control and for people living with dementia. We have made a recommendation about the accessible information standard and how its use is embedded within the service.

Follow Up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.