About the service Folkestone Care Centre is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to 34 older people some of who may be living with dementia at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 110 people, over four floors, in one purpose-built building. People were living on the ground and first floor, known as communities.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People told us they felt safe and happy living at the service. However, potential risks to people’s health and welfare had not always been assessed. There was not always guidance in place for staff to mitigate risk and keep people as safe as possible.
Checks and audits had been completed on all aspects of the service. These audits were not robust and effective, they had not identified the shortfalls found at this inspection. The provider had completed spot checks, but these had not been recorded or used to improve the service.
The environment did not always meet the needs of people and promote their independence. Some people were living with dementia and the environment did not meet current guidelines to support people living with dementia. There were no pictorial signage and all the doors looked the same, some people were unable to find their way around the community.
People were not always supported to express their views. People were not always given information in ways they could understand, information was not available for people in different formats such as easy read. We have made a recommendation about this.
Staff knew people well, but people’s care plans did not always reflect the care being given. Care plans had not consistently been changed when people’s needs had. People’s medicines had not always been managed safely.
Staff monitored people’s health and referred people to relevant healthcare professionals and followed their guidance to keep people as healthy as possible. People’s needs had been assessed before they moved into the service and continued to be reviewed using recognised assessment tools.
People were supported by staff who had been recruited safely and had received training appropriate to their role. Staff had received supervision to discuss their practice and training needs.
People were supported to eat a balanced diet, people had a choice of meals. People’s choices and dietary needs were catered for. People had access to activities they enjoyed.
People’s end of life wishes were recorded. People were supported to be as comfortable as possible at the end of their lives.
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.
There was an open and transparent culture within the service, people felt comfortable to speak to the registered manager about their views of the service. People told us they knew how to complain, there had been no formal complaints since the service opened.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
This service was registered with us on 21 September 2018 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the date the service was registered with the Care Quality Commission.
Enforcement
We have identified breaches in relation to care and safe treatment, the environment and the governance of the service at this inspection.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will ask the provider to provide an action plan of how they plan to improve their rating to at least good. 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.