16 January 2020
During a routine inspection
Fernwood Court Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care for up to 56 people aged 65 and over. People are accommodated in a purpose-built building, over four floors. The service was providing personal care to 52 people, at the time of this inspection.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The management of people’s medicines was not always safe. Prescribed topical creams were not always administered as prescribed. The reasons for administering as required medications, and the outcomes of doing so, was not always fully recorded.
People’s care plans and risk assessments did not always provide enough detail to ensure people had choice in how their support was given, or to enable staff to keep people safe, for example when people were experiencing distressed behaviour.
There were not always enough staff on duty at night, to safely meet people’s needs. Staff were safely recruited and trained to meet people’s needs. Staff were trained in infection control, and infection control procedures were in place.
People were offered nutritional meals and were supported to eat where this was needed. The cook had information about people’s medical conditions, medication and personal preferences and used this information to ensure people received suitable foods.
Staff did not always promote people’s dignity. Staff promoted people’s independence and respected their privacy and confidentiality.
People, relatives, staff and health care professionals all had opportunities to give their views about the service, via a system of ongoing mini surveys. However, not all people had access to feedback about the surveys that had taken place.
Accessible information standards were not fully met, for people where English was not their first language.
The provider had a complaints policy and procedure in place. Complaints were effectively dealt with.
People participated in meaningful community outings and took part in a range of activities provided in the home.
People did not always have opportunities to discuss their end of life care. End of life care plans were not always in place. This meant people’s support may not reflect their preferences.
Quality assurance systems and processes were ineffective and did not consistently identify areas for improvement.
People were not always supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. This meant staff may not be supporting people in the least restrictive way possible or in their best interests.
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 02 August 2017)
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
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 all sections of this full report.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Fernwood Court Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Enforcement
We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, person centred care, dignity and respect, staffing and good governance at this inspection.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.