Saxondale Nursing Home

Updated 19 February 2022

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.

We received information of concern about visiting arrangements at this service. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection prevention and control measures the provider has in place. We also asked the provider about any staffing pressures the service was experiencing and whether this was having an impact on the service.

This inspection took place on 08 February 2022 and was unannounced.

Updated 19 February 2022

About the service

Saxondale Nursing Home is a care home providing personal and nursing care to people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 36 people. At the time of this inspection, 22 people were living at the home.

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

Inconsistencies in leadership and systems of governance had led to shortfalls at the service. Audit processes historically had been sporadic or non-existent, which meant management oversight of the service was sometimes poor. The provider had employed a new manager in August 2021, and from this point onwards we found visible improvements to the service and audit processes had been made. Staff and external professionals recognised the service was improving, but felt further action was needed to raise the standard of care. One visiting professional told us, “Now [new manager’s name] is in, I see they are getting a handle of things and the service has improved.”

People received safe care. However, whilst we were satisfied people received a safe service, certain practices placed people at an increased risk of receiving unsafe or poor care. Records of reviews of people’s care and weight monitoring checks were not always kept. Low staffing was a recurring feedback theme and systems to calculate minimum staffing levels were not always robust. We asked the manager to review staffing arrangements after the inspection. Saxondale Nursing Home is a converted Victorian home; although aspects of the service looked homely, work was needed in the environment to prevent the building from falling into a state of disrepair. During the inspection we observed mostly good practice in relation to medicines management and infection control.

The manager assured CQC during and after the inspection they were committed to improving Saxondale Nursing Home. They were working towards a comprehensive action plan, with regular support and input from the provider.

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 10 July 2018).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the environment, staffing and systems of governance at the home. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We have identified breaches in relation to record keeping and good governance at this inspection.

Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.