About the service Oaklands Nursing Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to 37 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 50 people. Oaklands accommodates people within a three-story building with access to all levels being provided by a passenger lift.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Some working practices placed people at risk of harm. Risk assessments, care plans and care monitoring documentation did not always accurately reflect care needs. The provider lacked effective systems to identify the shortfalls we found.
The provider and registered manager had also failed to ensure appropriate consent was obtained from people about important health decisions which affected them. This meant people were not supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests. The policies and systems in the service did not support this practice.
Although we found improvements were needed, people did tell us they liked living at Oaklands Nursing Home and felt they received good care. People told us they felt safe and could speak to the staff and registered manager if they had any concerns. People also spoke positively about the meals they were provided with and could make choices about where to take their meals and spend their time generally within the service.
Staff were safely recruited and inducted. There were enough staff available to respond to people when they needed care. We observed staff treat people with respect and demonstrated they knew people well. People confirmed they were supported to access healthcare services when they needed it and relatives felt well informed about their loved one’s day to day care.
The service was clean, and people were encouraged to personalise their own bedrooms in a way they chose.
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 16 February 2019).
Why we inspected
We received concerns in relation to the safe management of people’s nursing care needs. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, effective 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.
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.
The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvement. Please see the Safe, Effective and Well-Led sections of this full report. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
The provider has taken action to mitigate some of the risks we identified and has shared an action plan setting out how they would address the issues we found during the inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Oaklands Nursing Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
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 monitor the service 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 the safe assessment and management of risks to people, seeking appropriate consent and ensuring records are accurate with an effective system of management oversight of the quality of care being provided to people at this inspection.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will request an action plan for 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.