Archived: Austenwood Nursing Home

Updated 16 October 2018

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 and to look at the overall quality of the service.

This inspection took place on 13 September 2018 and was unannounced. The inspection team consisted of one inspector, an assistant inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service and the service provider. The registered provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We looked at the notifications we had received for this service. Notifications are information about important events the service is required to send us by law.

Throughout our inspection we spent time observing interactions between people and staff at the service and we spoke to eight people and one visiting relative. We also spoke with the director, the registered manager, one nurse, one nursing assistant, one Care Home Advanced Practitioner (CHAP), two care staff, one laundry staff and the head chef.

We looked at records, which included three people’s care records and medicines records. We checked recruitment, training and supervision records for four staff. We also looked at a range of records about how the service was managed. After our site visit we contacted number of external health and social care professionals and commissioners to obtain their views about the service. We also contacted three more relatives to get their views.

Updated 16 October 2018

We inspected this service on 13 September 2018. Austenwood Nursing Home is a ‘care home’ registered to support up to 35 people. People in care homes receive accommodation as well as personal and nursing care under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. On the day of our inspection there were 31 people living at the service.

At our last inspection in December 2015 the service was rated Good overall. At this inspection we found the service improved its responsiveness to Outstanding and remained Good overall.

We found the service was exceptionally responsive to people’s needs. There was a clear emphasis on putting people and their individual needs at the forefront of the service delivery. Staff were empowered and focused on improving people’s lives and well-being. People achieved positive outcomes as result of care received. There was an exceptional activities provision that took account of people’s individual preferences effectively enhancing their sense of purpose.

People were extremely complimentary about the support they had from staff and told us staff were ‘superb’ and that the staff respected what was important to people. Comments from people included, “The staff help me and know what I need, sometimes almost before I know myself” and “The staff seem to know exactly what to do and look after me well”.

The feedback from people’s relatives was also excellent and reflected people’s relatives were ‘delighted’ with the care at the service which left the relatives ‘confident that the family have made the right choice’. An external professional told us, “I would have absolutely no qualms about placing my mother in Austenwood if she required care. I have total confidence that the home is run professionally”.

People knew how to raise concerns and they told us there was nothing they would like to change about the service. The provider demonstrated a proactive and innovative approach to complaints management and the management saw concerns as a way of improving the service.

The staff ensured people were supported to have a dignified death. Staff worked in collaboration with professionals to ensure people receiving end of life were pain free. Staff provided empathy and emotional support to wider families of people receiving end of life care. The management demonstrated proactive approach and put systems in place that ensured people and their relatives were well informed and prepared for the unexpected aspects of people’s deteriorating conditions.

People continued to be safe and they told us they felt safe. Staff had a good understanding of safeguarding matters and knew how to report any concerns. People's medicines were managed appropriately and people received their medicines as prescribed.

People benefitted from skilled and knowledgeable team that received relevant, ongoing training. Staff told us they were well supported and praised the team work. There were sufficient staffing to keep people safe and the provider ensured safe recruitment practices had been followed.

Risks to people, including individual risks, environmental risks as well as infection control risks were all managed appropriately to ensure people were safe. The provider had a system to record and manage accidents and incidents and ensured appropriate action had been taken in response to these. The team used reflection to ensure lessons learnt were considered and to improve the service further.

Staff were compassionate, kind and caring and they developed meaningful rapport with people living at the service. People’s dignity, privacy and confidentiality was respected and people were supported to remain independent as much as possible.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice and people’s rights to make own decisions were respected.

There were systems in place to ensure people’s needs were assessed prior to admission to the service. People were supported to meet their nutritional needs and to access health professionals as required. The provider ensured plenty of consideration had gone into the decoration and layout of the service. A real homely and peaceful environment had been created with due consideration given to people’s needs. Since our last inspection the service won 2016 Care Home Design Award for its environment.

There was a registered manager running the service. 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.

There was a robust staffing structure that ensured all staff were clear of their roles and responsibilities. This contributed to staff morale and promoted an open and positive atmosphere for all who lived and worked at the service.

People, relatives and staff all told us the service remained well-run. People had opportunities to provide feedback about the running of the service and the registered manager ensured all feedback was acted upon. Staff felt valued, listened to and they demonstrated a sense of pride working at the service.

The provider worked in partnership with other organisations to ensure good practice standards were followed. The registered manager ensured number of audits took place on regular basis. The provider’s quality assurance systems remained effective and contributed to driving a continuous improvement.