Archived: Chelmer Valley Care Home

Chelmer Valley Care Home is nursing home registered to accommodate up to 140 residents some of whom may have dementia. At the time of our inspection 50 people were living at the service.

The service has had a new manager in post since March 2017 and they are currently going through the process to be registered with the CQC. 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.

The service was last inspected in November 2016 and was rated overall good with requires improvement in safe due to the deployment of staff. We undertook this inspection in response to concerns raised about people’s safety. This was a focussed inspection to review safe and well-led.

The service was not consistently safe. People’s medication management and administration was not always managed safely to ensure people were receiving their medication appropriately. We found some people did not have clear documentation in place to support the administration of as required medication. We also found when medication needs changed these had not been reviewed promptly.

Risk assessments did not always reflect the needs of people and the best way to support them. We observed poor moving and handling techniques being used by staff. People did not always receive effective pressure area care. Equipment used to relief pressure areas was not always used efficiently and had not been serviced.

The service was not using effective quality monitoring processes to monitor its performance or to look for ways of improving the service for people. The manager needed to improve their oversight of the service and use audits and quality monitoring to drive improvements.

Staff showed a good knowledge of safeguarding procedures and were clear about the actions they would take to protect people. Recruitment checks had been carried out before staff started work to ensure that they were suitable to work in a care setting.

Chelmer Valley Care Home provides accommodation for up to 140 people who require nursing or personal care. There were 57 people living at the service at the time of our inspection and the service was only occupying two floors of the property. The ground floor was designated for people with nursing needs and the second floor for people who required personal care and did not have nursing needs, but may have dementia.

The provider’s registration required them to have a registered manager in post. At the time of the inspection, there was a registered manager in place. 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 previous inspection in November 2015, found that the service required improvement and had breached in a number of regulations under the Health and Social Care Act, 2008. During this inspection, we found that significant improvements had been made to the management, running and culture at the home and outstanding breaches had been satisfied.

There were enough staff with the skills, and experience to care for people in a safe way. However, at the time of our visit we found that they were not deployed appropriately to take into account people’s level of needs. The management team immediately reviewed this due to our findings and made the necessary changes to rectify this concern.

Whilst people told us that they enjoyed the food at the service and there was plenty of choice, we found that meal times on the nursing floor were not enjoyable due to the level of needs of people and the lack of considered deployment of staff mentioned above.

Staff received quality training, supervision, and support to carry out their role effectively.

The staff and managers at the home demonstrated compassionate and caring responses to people, particularly those who became distressed. We observed good interactions and people were complimentary about the positive culture of the service.

We saw that people were treated with respect and dignity. The management team had made a number of changes to the physical environment and the way they cared for people, so that care was less task orientated and more about that person. This area had been a concern on our previous visit to the service.

Care plans contained relevant information about how to care for people’s physical health and the service had worked innovative ways to develop their relationships with physical and mental health professionals. Activity coordinators ensured that people were involved in meaningful activities, regardless of level of need.

The management team were passionate and committed to continue to improve the service, and had good oversight of the service. We saw that they knew staff and the people at the service very well.