Archived: Blandford Grange Care Home

Updated 17 December 2014

We visited the home on 4 August and 7 August 2014. The inspection was unannounced and was the first inspection of this home since it registered with a new provider organisation in April 2014.The inspection was carried out by an inspector and a specialist advisor with nursing experience. We reviewed all 23 key lines of enquiry at this inspection. These were the lines of enquiry we followed to come to our judgements about whether the service was safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led.

Before the inspection we checked the information that we held about the home. This included notifications received from the provider. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. We reviewed the Provider Information Record ( PIR) . The PIR was information given to us by the provider. This enabled us to ensure we were addressing potential areas of concern. We also reviewed information we had received about this home from members of the public.

This report was written during the testing phase of our new approach to regulating adult social care services. After this testing phase, inspection of consent to care and treatment, restraint, and practice under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) was moved from the key question ‘Is the service safe?’ to ‘Is the service effective?’

‘The ratings for this location were awarded in October 2014. They can be directly compared with any other service we have rated since then, including in relation to consent, restraint, and the MCA under the ‘Effective’ section. Our written findings in relation to these topics, however, can be read in the ‘Is the service safe’ sections of this report.

During our inspection we observed how the staff interacted with people and their families and with each other. We looked at how people were supported during their lunch and we used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI) in one of the communal lounges. SOFI is a specific way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We also reviewed a range of care records relating to the care of nine people and records about how the home was managed. These included staff files, training records, the complaint records and policies and procedures.

We spoke with four people and five visiting relatives. We also spoke with the manager and  12 other members of staff.

After the inspection visit we spoke with two healthcare professionals with involvement in the care of people living in home.

Updated 17 December 2014

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 and to pilot a new inspection process being introduced by CQC which looks at the overall quality of the service.

Blandford Grange Care Home is a nursing home registered to provide personal and nursing care for up to 63 people, some of whom are living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 39 people living in the home.

The previous registered manager left in April 2014 and the manager who has been managing the home on an interim basis had started the process to become the registered manager at the time of this inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service and has the legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the law; as does the provider.

We found staff found staff were up to date with current guidance to support people to make decisions.

Staff were able to describe types of abuse and their role in reporting any concerns they had. This meant people were at a reduced risk of abuse.

People and their relatives told us they felt safe. We saw that risks were managed effectively and included people’s wishes. They also told us that if they were concerned about anything they knew how to raise concerns or complaints. Where people had complained these were responded to quickly and effectively and the information was used to improve quality in the home.

People were cared for by staff who understood their needs and were able to describe how they supported them. This meant people’s care needs were met. For example, People received their medicines and other health treatments appropriately and had access to health care when they needed it.

Staff had the skills and knowledge to meet people’s needs and we saw they were caring and treated people with dignity and respect. This meant that people and staff had good relationships and people took part in a range of activities that they enjoyed.

The culture within the service was focussed on people as individuals and open communication was encouraged. There was a clear management structure and staff, relatives and people felt comfortable talking to the managers about any issues and were sure that any concerns would be addressed. There were systems in place to monitor the safety and quality of the service provided.