Archived: The Gables Care Home

Updated 8 March 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.

This unannounced inspection took place on 26 January 2016. It was undertaken by three inspectors and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using, or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. Their area of expertise was in caring for older people and those living with dementia.

Prior to our inspection we reviewed the provider’s information return (PIR). This is information we asked the provider to send to us to show what they are doing well and the improvements they planned to make in the service. We looked at information that we held about the service including information received and notifications. Notifications are information on important events that happen in the home that the provider is required to notify us about by law. We also made contact with the local authority contract monitoring officer to aid with our planning of this inspection.

During our inspection we spoke with four people and six visitors. We also spoke with the registered manager, senior nursing sister and ten staff who worked at the home. These included the administrator, care staff, activity worker and housekeeping staff. Due to the complex communication needs of the people who lived at the home we observed how the staff interacted with people to help assist us in understanding the quality of care they received.

We looked at three people’s care records. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service including staff training records, audits, and meeting minutes.

Updated 8 March 2016

The Gables Specialist Nursing Home provides accommodation, personal care and nursing care for up to 55 older people including those living with dementia. Accommodation is located over two floors. There were 53 people living in the home when we visited.

This inspection was unannounced and took place on 26 January 2016.

The home had a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The provider had failed to notify the Care Quality Commission (CQC) of important events that had occurred in the home.

The CQC monitors the operation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) which applies to care services. Staff had received training and had an understanding to ensure that where people lacked the capacity to make decisions they were supported to make decisions that were in their best interests. People were only deprived of their liberty where this was lawful.

The provider had a robust recruitment process in place and staff were only employed within the home after all essential safety checks had been satisfactorily completed.

People’s privacy and dignity were respected at all times. Staff sought, and obtained, permission before entering people’s rooms to provide personal care. People’s health, care and nutritional needs were effectively met. People were provided with a varied, balanced diet and staff were aware of people’s dietary needs. Staff referred people appropriately to healthcare professionals. People received their prescribed medicines and medicines were stored in a safe way.

Wherever possible people or their families were involved in the planning of the care that they received. The provider had an effective complaints process in place which was accessible to people, relatives and others who used or visited the service.

The provider had effective quality assurance systems in place to identify areas for improvement and appropriate action to address any identified concerns. Audits completed by the provider and registered manager showed the subsequent actions taken, which helped drive improvements in the home.

We found one breach of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.