Archived: Blenheim Court

Updated 14 October 2015

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, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

We carried out the inspection on 14 July 2015 and it was unannounced. The inspection team was made up of two Adult Social Care Inspectors, an Expert by Experience and a Specialist Advisor. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. This person had experience of caring for older people and dementia care. The Specialist Advisor is a professional with experience of working with someone who uses this type of care service. The Specialist Advisor was a registered nurse currently working in an acute setting with previous experience of working with older people.

Prior to the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service and the registered provider. This included notification of any incidents which may impact on service delivery and any injuries or alleged abuse sustained by people living at Blenheim Court. We also spoke with a Sheffield Local Authority Contracts Officer prior to our inspection and they had no concerns to report.

We spent time observing the daily life in the service including the care and support being delivered by all staff. During the inspection we spoke with nine people living at Blenheim Court, four relatives, and nine members of staff, including the registered manager, administrator, and nurse.

We reviewed a wide range of records, including three people’s care plans and another two people’s admission files which included financial records. We looked at four staff files and the centrally held file for recent supervisions of all staff. We checked the medication administration record charts for people receiving medicines at lunch time. We also reviewed the policies, procedures and audits relating to the management and quality assurance of the service provided at Blenheim Court.

Updated 14 October 2015

Blenheim Court Nursing Home is a converted house with a purpose built extension. The home is registered to provide accommodation for up to 44 people over two floors; however some of the bedrooms were large enough to accommodate two people. These rooms are now all single occupancy rooms and this means Blenheim Court now provide accommodation for up to 35 people. There were 34 people living at Blenheim Court on the day of our inspection. The home is a short distance from the local amenities such as shops, pubs, churches and has easy access to the city centre by public transport.

There was a manager at the service who was registered with CQC. It is a condition of registration with the Care Quality Commission that the home has a registered manager in place. There was a registered manager in place who was present on the day of our inspection. 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.

Our last inspection of Blenheim Court was on the 5th July 2013 and the service was found to be meeting the requirements of the regulations we inspected at that time.

This inspection took place on 14th July 2015 and was unannounced. This means the people who lived at Blenheim Court and the staff who worked there did not know we were coming.

People told us they liked living at Blenheim Court. We were told “I love it here” by one person and another person told us “I think the staff here are very kind with me.”

Most people, relatives and staff we spoke with told us there weren’t enough staff available to care for people adequately. We were given examples of people having to wait for assistance to go to the toilet and waiting when two carers were needed to support a person to move safely.

We observed staff treating people with respect and upholding their dignity. They were kind and courteous to people. One person told us, “They (the carers) do a good job, considering they’re so busy all the time.” One relative said, “I don’t doubt they’re well trained, but it doesn’t help if there aren’t enough of them.”

Staff recruitment procedures were in place and thorough which meant that people were cared for by suitably qualified staff who had been assessed as safe to work with people. Staff demonstrated an understanding of their responsibilities to protect people from harm.

Staff told us they felt supported by management. We saw evidence they had appropriate training and regular supervisions to enable them to undertake their jobs properly.

People and relatives told us that the registered manager was approachable and had mostly resolved any concerns they had raised.

There were activities available during the day for people to take part in, however these were limited and usually held in the main lounge. This meant they did not always meet the needs of every person living at Blenheim Court.

We saw care plans that reflected individual needs and preferences. However, there was no evidence that of mental capacity assessments had been completed. This means some people didn’t consent to treatment and people who knew them well may not have been consulted on how to best care for the person.

We found the home was clean; however the people in the seven rooms upstairs in the original part of the house did not have access to a bath or shower on their floor. This meant the person had to be supported to access the lift whenever they wanted a bath or shower.

We found systems were in place to make sure people received their medicines safely.

There were systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided. Regular checks and audits were undertaken to make sure the policy and procedures in place were properly followed.

During our inspection we found three breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the end of the full version of this report.