About the service Priory Court Care Home is a residential care home that provides accommodation and personal care, including nursing for up to 60 people, some of whom were living with dementia. On the day of our visit there were 49 people using the service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
We received mixed responses as to whether people felt safe at the home. Not all accidents and incidents were records. Medicines were not stored, administered or documented safely. Where people were at risk of pressure sores or choking, no risk assessments were in place to help staff to minimise these risks. There were insufficient staff to meet people’s needs and the home relied heavily on agency staff. However, this had already been recognised by the provider prior to the inspection and they were in the process of recruiting new staff. We raised safeguarding concerns to the local authority following the inspection.
Some people’s nutrition and hydration needs had not been fully assessed and met. We heard mixed responses about the food. The home was not consistently seeking or following advice from healthcare professionals. People were not supported to attend hospital appointments. We identified gaps in recording of care tasks including repositioning people and providing fluids, therefore we were unable to be sure people’s care and support needs were met. Staff were suitably trained to meet people’s needs. Staff were receiving supervisions, but some staff did not feel fully supported.
People said staff were kind and caring. However, it was evident from the issues we found, the provider was not ensuring the service was caring overall.
People’s care plans were not person centred or updated to address people’s current needs. People spent long periods of time in their bedrooms and we saw very few activities taking place.
We have made a recommendation about activities.
Complaints and concerns were not dealt with in line with the providers policy. Two serious complaints that we heard about on the day of the inspection were raised with the provider who offered meetings to the families following our inspection.
The service was not always well led. The provider took immediate action and changes were made to the management team.
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 good (published 29 November 2016).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this report.
Enforcement
We identified breaches in relation to keeping people safe, managing complaints and good governance.
Follow up
We will request an action plan from the provider to show how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will work with the local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.