Archived: Blandford Grange Care Home

Updated 25 August 2015

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 inspection took place on 9/10 June 2015 and was unannounced.

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Before the inspection we checked information that we had about the home. This included notifications we received from the provider. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form which asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During our inspection we looked around the home and observed how staff interacted with people and with each other. People could not fully tell us their experience of living in the home. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI) in one of the communal lounges. SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We spoke with four relatives, 12 staff, reviewed nine care records and looked at a sample of the Medication Administration Records (MAR).

We reviewed records relating to the running of the service such as environmental risk assessments and quality monitoring audits.

Before the inspection we contacted a representative of the local authority’s contract monitoring team and the clinical commissioning group involved in the care of people living at the home to obtain their views on the service.

Updated 25 August 2015

This inspection took place on 9/10 June 2015 and was unannounced.

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 at the home. The home is over three floors which each floor staffed independently. The top floor was not open at the time of our inspection and was being refurbished as a residential unit.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager, although the current manager had applied to be registered. 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.

Improvements were needed to ensure people were always treated with dignity and respect. We found that meal times could be made better for some people. People had their nutritional needs assessed and received appropriate food and drink; however improvements could be made to how people who need support at mealtimes were assisted. People were not always spoken to when staff were carrying out interventions and people were not always given a choice.

The provider had a comprehensive training programme which included some training such as communication, care of the challenging person and privacy and dignity. We found not all staff had attended this training which was reflected in some staff lacking the necessary interpersonal skills to support people who are living with dementia.

We found that there were risk assessments and care plans for people. Some improvements were needed to the care plans to provide more detail on how to reduce the risk of falls. Care plans for some people at risk of falls stated to carry out visual checks to reduce the risk. There was not guidance on frequency of checks or how visual checks were carried out and it was unclear to us if visual checks reduced the risk. Improvements are needed on how visual checks are completed and evaluated.

We saw activities being provided which were based on people’s individual preferences and saw people engage positively with staff.

There was a new management team within the home that was reviewing current processes and care plans and we found them open and positive about future developments. Staff told us that management were approachable and they listened.

We found there was a breach of regulation 10 (1) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, people were not always supported respectfully and with dignity. You can see what actions we have asked the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.