Acorn Nursing Home

Updated 11 May 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection, we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was completed by 2 inspectors.

Service and service type

Acorn Nursing Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Acorn Nursing Home is a care home with nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed information we have received since the last inspection and reviewed information available in the public domain. We also sought feedback from key stakeholders. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 9 staff and 5 people who lived in the home. We reviewed 4 recruitment records and 7 care plans. We looked at accident and medicines records for the whole home and reviewed management information. We also observed staff interactions with people and looked around the home, including the communal areas, kitchen, laundry and people’s rooms. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We delivered feedback to the registered manager and nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

Updated 11 May 2023

About the service

Acorn Nursing Home is a nursing home supporting up to 40 people over the age of 65 with varying physical and mental health needs. At the time of the inspection there were 35 people living in the home. The home is over three floors and there is both lift and stair access to each. There is a large kitchen and laundry on the ground floor. There is one large communal area on the ground floor and at the time of the inspection two further communal rooms were being redecorated for use by the people in the home.

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

We found some records and audits were not dated and there were some inconsistencies around the accuracy of records to support the implementation of the Mental Capacity Act. We have given two recommendations about these concerns. Where records had not been updated to reflect people’s current circumstance, we were assured this did not impact on the delivery of correct care as information on people’s needs were clearly and accurately recorded on handover records and in communication books. 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 mostly supported this practice. Where we identified some incorrectly completed paperwork, we were told they would be immediately rectified. People told us they felt safe and were supported by well trained staff. Medicines were safely managed, and a medicines champion was in place to oversee this.

People told us they liked living at Acorn Nursing Home, we found positive staff relationships and meaningful activity taking place throughout the inspection. Staff treated people with dignity and respect and people were consistently given both choices and asked for their consent prior to any interaction.

The culture amongst the staff was positive with many staff describing their peers as “family”. The rota was mostly covered by permanent staff who had been in post many years. Audits were in place and were regularly completed on both management and care records.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 14 April 2022) and there were 3 breaches of regulations. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 15, 16 February and 3 March 2022. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve the management of medicines, confidentiality and respect and good governance.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Caring and Well-led which contain those requirements.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Acorn Nursing Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Follow up

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