12 January 2016
During a routine inspection
Bablake House is registered to provide accommodation for up to 45 older people including older people living with dementia who require personal care. There were 38 people living in the home at the time of our visit.
A requirement of the service’s registration is that they have 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection.
People living at Bablake House had varying degrees of care needs. Several people had the capacity to express their needs and were able interact with other people and staff members.
There were enough staff available to safeguard the health and wellbeing of people. Where risks associated with people’s care had been identified, there were plans in place to manage those risks. The majority of people had mobility difficulties and had walking aids to assist them to move around safely and independently.
People told us they felt safe in the home and staff understood their role in keeping people safe from abuse. The provider had a thorough recruitment procedure to ensure staff employed in the home were safe to work with the people who lived there. People received their medicines as prescribed.
The registered manager understood their responsibility to comply with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.
Staff received an induction to the home and completed on-going training to ensure they understood how to work safely and effectively with people.
People were positive about the caring attitude of the staff. We observed staff being caring to people and saw staff and people enjoying each other’s company. There were some social activities for people to participate in, but some people told us there was not much for them to do.
People were provided with food and drinks that met their health needs and were supported to attend regular health checks.
The registered manager had an understanding of the needs of people living with dementia and was developing the service to provide person centred dementia care. However, this process had not been fully implemented and some improvement was needed to fully achieve this.
People who lived at Bablake House, and staff, felt able to speak with registered manager and share their views about the service. The registered manager was supportive to staff and worked with them to provide good standards of care. There were effective quality assurance systems to monitor and improve the quality of service provided.