17 August 2016
During a routine inspection
The service did not have a registered manager and are required to do so. 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.
There was not enough sufficient trained staff to meet people’s needs and wishes. People were left unattended in communal areas for periods throughout the day. They had no means of calling for assistance.
During our inspection visit we observed that staff were friendly and approachable. When staff delivered care it was done in a respectful and appropriate way. Staff were caring and communicated well with people when they had the opportunity. However, they focused on tasks they were performing rather than on the people they were caring for.
Staff did speak in a positive manner about the people they cared for and they said they wished they had more time to spend with people. Staff had a good understanding of people’s health care needs however no account was taken of emotional or personal needs. People were offered healthy food and drinks though they did not have free access to drinks. Staff were not always available to assist people to eat their meals in a timely manner.
Mostly people were left un-stimulated and had nothing to occupy them other than a TV which most people could not see or hear properly.
There were no effective training and processes in place for staff to follow to keep people safe. People’s physical health was promoted. However, staff were unaware of how to ensure people’s rights under the Mental Capacity Act were promoted. Medicines were stored appropriately but were not always administered and recorded as prescribed.
Most people were escorted or taken to the communal sitting area when they were dressed. They stayed there for the duration of the inspection visits. Meals were served as a task and no effort was made to make lunch a social occasion. Most people were given their lunch where they had been sitting all morning and were not given the opportunity to socialise and use lunch time as a social activity.
People were supported to maintain relationships with family and friends. Visitors were welcomed at any time.
Records we looked at were not personalised and did not include decisions people had made about their care including their likes, dislikes and personal preferences. However, there was a good hand over sheet in use that was personalised. There was little or no activity to stimulate and occupy people. There was one person dedicated to activities. However, due to lack of care staff they were called upon to assist people with everyday living tasks.
The service was not managed in an inclusive manner. People were not facilitated to have their wishes made known, therefore they were not recorded as part of care planning. There was no system in place to capture staffs’ knowledge of people’s needs and wishes.
The provider did not have a quality assurance process in place. There they had no means of identifying and addressing the failings in the service.
We found three breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 at this inspection visit. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.