Norlands Nursing Home

Updated 9 August 2019

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of one inspector.

Norlands Nursing Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

Before the inspection, we looked at notifications the provider had sent us and spoke with the local authority who did not provide any concerning information.

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During the inspection we spoke with the registered manager and the provider. We spoke with one nurse, three staff members, four people living at the home and one relative.

We looked at three care plans and associated records, three people’s medicines records and medicines. We looked at information in relation to the health and safety of the home, the meal time experience and activities. We also looked at audits to monitor and improve the home. We reviewed three staff recruitment files and supervision and training records.

We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

Updated 9 August 2019

About the service

Norlands Nursing Home is a care home providing personal or nursing care to for up to 21 older people, people living with dementia, people with a learning or physical disability and people with mental health needs. At the time of inspection, there were 17 people living at the home. There were 3 single rooms and nine shared rooms at the home.

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

People felt safe living at the home. Improvements had been made to the management of medicines and the registered manager had oversight of the safe management of medicines. People had appropriate risk assessments in place and staff were aware of strategies to manage risk. Staff were aware of what action to take following any safeguarding concerns. Staff told us they felt confident to report any concerns and that they would be acted upon.

People were assessed to ensure their needs could be met while living at the home. People were very complimentary of the meals and we observed staff to be attentive and patience with people who required help with eating and drinking. People with alternative dietary needs were catered for. Staff were inducted into their job role and received regular training. The home worked in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

People felt well cared for and there were kind interactions between people and the staff team. The staff could describe the most appropriate way to care for people and were aware of peoples likes and dislikes. People told us the staff were responsive.

Care plans were person centred and the addition of a one-page profile gave detailed information to staff. Care plans were regularly reviewed and a relative told us they had been involved in formulating the plans. Activities were varied, and we observed people joining in throughout our visit. The home had not received any complaints since the last inspection. People told us they knew who to complain to and felt they could make a complaint if they needed to. People could be supported to remain at the home, if that was their choice, at the end of their life.

The registered manager and the provider were actively involved in the running of the home. Staff felt supported by both and were very complimentary about the management of the home. Improvements to audits across the home gave the registered manager a clear oversight and allowed them to make improvements where needed. Both the registered manager and the provider were aware of their responsibilities of their registration.

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 23 July 2018) and there were breaches of regulations. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.