Archived: Fernside Hall Care Home

Updated 7 October 2016

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.

The inspection took place on 6 September 2016 and was unannounced.

The inspection team comprised two adult social care inspectors.

Prior to the inspection, we gathered and reviewed information about the service. This included notifications received from the service and information received from the local authority contracts and safeguarding teams. The provider had also completed a Provider Information Return (PIR) before the inspection. This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed this information prior to the inspection.

During the inspection, we spoke with three people living at the service, one family member, three staff members, the activities co-ordinator, the manager and the area manager.

We observed care, support and interactions during the inspection, medicines administration and management, reviewed four care records, some in detail and others to check specific information, four staff files, training information and other information relating to the management of the service. We looked around the building and saw people's bedrooms, bathrooms and communal areas.

Updated 7 October 2016

This inspection of Fernside Hall took place on 6 September 2016 and the visit was unannounced. Fernside Hall is registered to provide residential care for up to 24 older people. The accommodation is arranged over three floors and there is a passenger lift available. There are two lounges and a dining room on the ground floor and a kitchen/sitting area on the first floor. There are 20 single bedrooms, 18 of which have en-suite toilet facilities and two double bedrooms with en-suite facilities. At the time of our inspection there were 17 people using the service.

Our last inspection of Fernside Hall took place on 9 November 2015 and found breaches of regulations in regard to reporting of notifiable incidents, care records, reporting, analysis and actions following accidents and incidents, dignity and respect, audit and governance, recruitment, induction and training. We told the provider they needed to take action and we received an action plan. At this inspection we found improvements had been made with regard to these areas although the service needed to maintain and continue these improvements over a sustained period of time.

The manager of Fernside Hall at the time of the previous inspection had left the service. The manager at the time of our visit had been in employment at the service for approximately six months and had applied for registration with the Care Quality Commission. 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.

People told us they felt safe at the service and no-one we spoke with had concerns. Staff we spoke with understood how to keep people safe and what to do in an emergency situation. The service had safeguarding procedures and individual risk assessments were in place to keep people safe.

People we spoke with told us they liked living at Fernside Hall and were happy with the service. They told us staff were kind and caring and treated them with respect and good humour. A relative we spoke with confirmed this. We observed some compassionate and caring exchanges between staff and people living at the service and staff we spoke with knew people well.

We saw consent was requested wherever possible and people's individual preferences were taken into account.

Medicines were administered and generally managed safely although the service was in the process of altering the storage of medicines to ensure these were stored at the correct temperature.

Accidents and incidents were generally well recorded and appropriate procedures followed although the manager recognised this had not happened with one identified recent incident.

Staff were safely recruited to ensure they were of suitable character to work with vulnerable people. Staff received a range of training which was generally up to date and had opportunity to attend other service specific courses and professional development training. The manager was recommencing a programme of staff supervision and appraisals and was aware this was an area for improvement.

Overall, there were sufficient numbers of staff deployed although the service needed to review the numbers of staff deployed at peak times to ensure levels consistently allowed for safe care and support.

Care records were person centred and newer care records contained good, detailed information. Work was in progress to ensure all care records were of a good standard.

A range of activities was on offer, according to people's preferences and choices. People were consulted about what activities were of interest to them and the home employed an activities co-ordinator.

The home was meeting the requirements of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and acting within the legal framework of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA).

A range of audits and checks were undertaken by the service to monitor, identify issues and take action to resolve them. The service received regular visits from the provider to provide support and guidance.

People who used the service, relatives, staff and healthcare professionals praised the new manager and said they generally found them approachable and could see improvements had taken place.

We saw evidence people’s views were sought to making positive changes in the service.

A complaints policy was in place although the service had not received any recent formal complaints.