Archived: Ada Belfield House Care Home

Ada Belfield House Care Home is a residential care home, providing personal care for up to 25 older adults, in one adapted building. Registered service bands include older people, dementia, mental health, sensory impairment and learning disability. At this inspection there were 23 older adults receiving care at the service.

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

The service was well managed and led internally by the registered manager, to help ensure person centred, safe and effective care. But the provider’s external governance and oversight arrangements were not consistently sufficient or effective, to fully or consistently ensure this

Staffing, risk management and medicines arrangements for people’s care and related management checks, helped to ensure people’s safety at the service. People were protected from the risk of harm or abuse. The provider took action when things went wrong at the service and referred to relevant authorities involved with people’s care when required to do so.

People’s care, environment and related equipment needs were met. Staff supported people to maintain or improve their health and nutrition as agreed with them and any external health professionals involved in their care. People were supported to have maximum control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The provider’s related policies and systems supported this practice.

Staff were effectively trained and supported to provide people’s care. Relevant information sharing for people’s care was standardised; to help ensure they received timely, consistent care as agreed with them, including when they needed to move between services.

People received care from kind, caring staff who ensured their dignity, equality and rights in their care. Staff knew people well; how to communicate with them and understood what was important to people them for their care. People were informed, involved and supported to understand, agree and make ongoing decisions about their care.

People received timely, personalised care that was tailored to their individual needs and wishes. This was provided in a way which helped to optimise people’s independence, inclusion and engagement in home life; with their friends and family and local community as they chose. People who were living with a life limiting illness were effectively consulted, informed and supported for their end of life care.

People and their relatives were informed and confident to make a complaint or raise any concerns about the service, if they needed to. People’s views and feedback were regularly sought. Findings from complaints and feedback were used to help inform and ensure any service improvements needed.

Management and staff understood their role and responsibilities for people’s care. There were effective arrangements for communication, record keeping and information handling at the service, along with relevant engagement and partnership working for people’s care and safety.

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

Rating at last inspection The last rating for this service was Good (published May 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating. We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvement. Please see the Well Led section of this full report.

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.

The inspection visit took place on 7 March 2017 and was unannounced. The service was last inspected on 29 July 2014 and was rated 'Good' overall. At this inspection we found the service remained 'Good' in five questions which gives a rating of 'Good’ overall.

There was a registered manager in post. 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.

People told us they felt safe. Staff understood what could constitute abuse and knew how, and who, to report to should they have any concerns. The provider had a safe recruitment process, which ensured new staff were suitable to work with people. Pre-employment checks had been carried out. There were enough staff on duty to meet people's needs.

Systems and processes were in place to ensure people received their medicines in a safe manner. Risks to people were assessed and identified and included in their care plans. Procedures were in place for emergencies and untoward incidents.

Staff understood the key principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. Staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were treated with dignity and respect; staff were kind, caring and compassionate. People were supported to maintain relationships with family and friends. People had to access healthcare professionals when needed; they were supported to maintain good health.

People told us there was plenty of choice and variety around meals; personal preferences, as well as special diets, were catered for. Drinks were freely available as well as being offered periodically throughout the day.

Care plans were reflective of people and their individual needs; people had been asked to contribute to their care plans. People and relatives felt there were enough activities to keep people occupied; staff supported people to take part in activities.

People and relatives were involved in the service and their views had been sought. Auditing procedures were in place to assess, monitor and evaluate the quality of the service being provided. People and relatives felt able to approach the staff or members of the management team and discuss any worries; people and relatives felt listened to.

People we spoke with were happy with the care provided. We found that each person had a care plan in place and that these had been reviewed on a regular basis helping to ensure that they reflected people's needs. People had access to health services such as GP's.

Staff where able to tell us about the different types of abuse and what they would do if they had concerns. All staff had been booked on to refresher training in safeguarding vulnerable adults.

Audits were carried out on the building and we saw that appropriate checks had been made to ensure that the building was safe.

The provider had quality assurance systems in place to help monitor the service provided.

Records were reviewed regularly and staff understood the importance of detailed and accurate records.

Care plans were detailed and had been reviewed regularly. Where risks had been identified the provider had taken appropriate action.

We spoke with three people on the day of this inspection. All were happy with the care provided.

Please see our previous inspection report for full comments.