Archived: Chelmsford Nursing Home

Updated 21 May 2015

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 12 and 13 November 2014 and was unannounced.

The inspection team consisted of a lead inspector, two other inspectors, 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. There was also specialist advisor, this is a person who had specialist knowledge in supporting people with dementia.

Before the inspection we reviewed previous reports and notifications that are held on the CQC database. Notifications are important events that the service has to let the CQC know about. We also reviewed safeguarding alerts and information from the local authority.

During the inspection we used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI), on the unit where people were living with dementia. SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We spoke with 12 people, seven relatives, and 11 members of staff including the care manager, deputy manager, two unit managers, two nurses and five care staff. We reviewed 12 care files, two recruitment files, minutes from meetings, training records and audits.

Updated 21 May 2015

The inspection of Chelmsford Nursing Home took place on the 12 and 13 November 2014.

The service is provided in a purpose built building that is set over two floors. The first floor is designated for people who require general nursing care and the ground floor is designated for people who are living with dementia. Care is led by registered nurses on both floors. The service requires there to be 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.’ A new manager has been in post since April 2014 and is just going through the process of becoming registered with the CQC.

At our last inspection of the service on the 9 July 2014 we found the provider was not meeting the requirements of the law in a number of areas. We asked the provider to send us an action plan as to how they would rectify this and meet the requirements of law. We received an action plan from the provider. At this inspection we found the provider had met their action plan objectives and was no longer in breach of the law under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 [Regulated Activities] Regulations 2010.

People were cared for safely in a well maintained environment.

Staff had been recruited appropriately after appropriate checks were completed.

Records were regularly updated and staff were provided with the information they needed to meet people’s needs. People's care and treatment was planned and delivered in a way that was intended to ensure people's safety and welfare.

Staff were provided with training in Safeguarding Adults from abuse, Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). The CQC is required by law to monitor the operation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and to report on what we find. We saw that there were policies, procedures and information available in relation to the MCA and DoLS to ensure that people who could not make decisions for themselves were protected.

People were relaxed in the company of each other and staff. Staff were attentive to people's needs and knew people well. Staff treated people with dignity and respect.

People who used the service were provided with the opportunity to participate in activities which interested them. These activities were diverse to meet people’s social needs.

The service worked well with other professionals to ensure that people's health needs were met. Where appropriate, support and guidance was sought from health care professionals, including a doctor, chiropodist and district nurse.

People could raise concerns or make a complaint to the care manager, complaints were resolved efficiently and quickly.

The service had a number of ways of gathering people’s views from holding meetings with staff, relatives and people to completing survey’s and talking to people individually.

The manager carried out a number of quality monitoring audits to ensure the service was running effectively and to drive improvements.