This was an unannounced inspection, carried out over two days on 14 and 17 November 2014.
Thingwall Hall provides accommodation, personal and nursing care for up to 44 adults. The service is made up of four, six bedroomed bungalows and a small nursing home.
The service had a registered manager. 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.
The last inspection of Thingwall Hall was carried out in September 2013 and we found that the service was meeting all the essential standards that we assessed.
People told us that they were happy and felt safe living at the service and they told us that staff knew them well. People told us they were not afraid to tell someone if they had any concerns about the way they were treated. One person commented, “I would tell someone right away if I was worried about anything”. Staff had received up to date training about safeguarding adults from abuse and they had access to policies and procedures which they could refer for guidance if needed. Staff were able to describe indicators of abuse and the different types of abuse. Staff and the registered manager were aware of their responsibilities to report abuse to relevant agencies and records showed they had done so in the past when required. Prior to our inspection visit we contacted the relevant local authorities for information and they reported to us that they had no concerns about safeguarding people who used the service from abuse.
Strict procedures were followed for recruiting new staff, this ensured people were cared for and supported by suitably qualified and experienced staff. We found that where possible people who used the service were involved in the selection of new staff.
We found that people were generally consulted about their care and support and that they were involved in making day to day decisions and choices about how they were supported and how they spent their time. However on the day of our visit we found people living in one of the bungalows were not offered a choice at lunchtime.
Staff responded appropriately were they recognised changes to people’s health and wellbeing by referring any concerns they had onto other health and social care professionals. We saw that the staff team understood people’s care and support needs and we observed staff treated people in a kind and respectful way.
We found the home was clean, hygienic and well maintained in all areas seen.
We looked at the care records of seven people who lived at the home. We found there was sufficient information about the support people required and that it was written in a way that recognised people’s needs. This meant that the person was put at the centre of what was being described. We saw that all records were completed and up to date.
We saw the provider had policies and procedures in place to guide staff in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), safeguarding and staff recruitment. This meant that staff had documents available to them to help them understand the risk of potential harm or abuse of people who lived at Thingwall Hall Nursing Home.