About the service Sandbanks Care Centre is a care home which provides nursing and residential care for up to 77 older adults, some of who are living with a dementia type illness. The accommodation is provided across three floors, each with their own adapted facilities. At the time of the inspection 68 people were living at the home.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
At the last inspection, the provider had failed to have effective systems in place to ensure people’s health, safety and welfare was appropriately assessed. People’s care preferences were not accurately documented and reviewed. At this inspection we found some care records remained inconsistent in their detail and risks to people’s health needs were not consistently managed to provide staff with clear guidance on how to keep people safe.
Accidents and incidents were recorded but were not always analysed to support staff in taking actions to keep people safe, reduce the likelihood of future harm and learn lessons.
The provider’s quality monitoring checks had failed to highlight the issues found during this inspection regarding the assessing, monitoring and reviewing of people’s care needs and ensuring all care records were reflective of people’s level of risk for harm.
Overall, the provider was following current national guidance for the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Housekeeping staff monitored all areas of the home ensuring high standards of infection prevention and control were delivered and that suitable supplies of personal protective equipment were available. The home was clean and well maintained. Appropriate checks and maintenance systems were in place to ensure the environment and equipment was safe for people living at the service.
Additional activities had been implemented within the home to positively support people during the COVID-19 pandemic. People were being supported to have visitors in line with current national guidance.
People told us they felt safe living at the service. Staff knew how to safeguard people from abuse. Relatives told us their family members were well cared for. One told us, “Staff are all so caring, this has been such a difficult year for them all but they have supported us as a whole family, this place is a god send.”
Medicines were managed safely and there were close links with health and social care professionals to ensure people's physical and mental health needs were met and changes responded to quickly. The provider had a safe recruitment process in place to ensure appropriate people were employed.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection (and update)
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 16 January 2020). The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has now been rated requires improvement for the last two consecutive inspections.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
We undertook this focused inspection to check the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe, responsive and well-led which contain those requirements.
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 COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.
The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has remained requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Sand Banks Care Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Enforcement
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service.
We have identified breaches in relation to management of people’s care and the governance at the service. This was in relation to inconsistencies in the detail recorded in people’s care records, assessment of the risk to people’s health and, the overall management of the service to ensure people remained safe.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We have met with the provider and discussed how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. The provider has provided an action plan to demonstrate what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.