24 May 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Quorn Orchards Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care for up to 30 older people. At the time of our inspection, there were 27 people using the service.
During this inspection we carried out a separate thematic probe, which asked questions of the provider, people and their relatives, about the quality of oral health care support and access to dentists, for people living in the care home. This was to follow up on the findings and recommendations from our national report on oral healthcare in care homes that was published in 2019 called ‘Smiling Matters’. We will publish a follow up report to the 2019 'Smiling Matters' report, with up to date findings and recommendations about oral health, in due course.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Improvements were needed to records where people were at risk from poor skin integrity. The provider had not ensured effective contingency planning where work was in progress to improve and upgrade the environment, to ensure people were protected from the potential risk of harm. People's medicines were administered safely. Further improvements were needed to ensure all medicines were stored safely and in line with best practice guidance.
Oversight of the service required further development. The provider and registered manager had identified where improvements were required, though not all the concerns we found during the inspection had been identified.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
People were protected from abuse, systems and processes were in place to identify and report any abuse or harm. Staff were kind, caring and attentive and understood people's individual needs well. There were enough staff deployed to meet people's needs and keep them safe. People and relatives described a responsive, compassionate service led by an approachable and supportive registered manager.
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was good (published 31 October 2019)
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about care and support. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe 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 found evidence the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe section of this report. The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
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 coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Quorn Orchards Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.