Sandhall Park

Updated 1 April 2022

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.

As part of CQC’s response to care homes with outbreaks of COVID-19, we are conducting reviews to ensure that the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) practice is safe and that services are compliant with IPC measures. This was a targeted inspection looking at the IPC practices the provider has in place. We also asked the provider about any staffing pressures the service was experiencing and whether this was having an impact on the service.

This inspection took place on 28 February 2022 and was announced. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection.

Updated 1 April 2022

About the service

Sandhall Park is a care home providing accommodation and personal care to 49 people within the categories of younger adults, older people, people living with dementia and people living with a mental health illness. The service can accommodate up to 50 people across two wings, each of which has separate facilities.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The quality of the record keeping varied and some records we looked at did not have the right information in them to manage people’s care safely. The monitoring and review of risk to people was not always up to date and effective. People's care records were being improved and transferred over to the new providers systems, which was ongoing and not yet complete.

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. However, the systems in the service did not support this practice. Decision specific mental capacity assessments had not always been not carried out to establish if people had the ability to make informed decisions. Best interest decisions had not been appropriately completed and recorded. We made a recommendation about this.

People had their prescribed medicines available to them and trained staff supported them with these. The provider medication policy was not always followed. Controlled medicines were not always disposed of appropriately in line with guidance.

Quality assurance systems had not always identified the improvements needed at the service. Surveys were used to engage with people. The information gathered was analysed, shared with people and used to make improvements to the service.

Staff were recruited and deployed safely. The provider had assured themselves that staff were suitable to work with vulnerable people.

Staff supported people to make choices as to what they had to eat and drink. People were supported to access health care professionals when needed.

People were involved where possible in the assessment and care planning process to ensure the support they received was what they wanted. Complaints were recorded and responded to in line with the provider’s policy.

People lived in an environment that was clean and tidy. Areas of the home had been adapted to support people living with dementia.

People received kind, caring and compassionate support. People decided how they were supported and when. Staff encouraged people’s independence and were respectful of people's privacy and dignity.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk

Enforcement

We identified one breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 around good governance. Details of action we have asked the provider to take can be found at the end of this report.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 7 February 2018). Since this rating was awarded the registered provider of the service has changed. We have used the previous rating to inform our planning and decisions about the rating at this inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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 monitor the progress of the improvements working alongside the provider and local authority. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.