Archived: Delves Court Care Home

Updated 12 November 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 was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the home, and to provide a rating for the home under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 27 September 2016 and was unannounced.

The inspection team consisted of one inspector, a pharmacy inspector and an expert by experience. An expert by experience has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The expert by experience who accompanied us had experience of supporting family members who used care services.

Before our inspection we reviewed information we held about the home including information of concern and complaints. We looked at statutory notifications we had been sent by the provider. A statutory notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We spoke with other agencies to gain their views about the quality of the service provided. This included the local authority and clinical commissioning group. We used this information to help us plan our inspection of the home.

During the inspection we spoke with eight people who lived at the home and five relatives. We spoke with six staff which included care staff, the cook and nurses. We spoke with the registered manager and area manager. We looked at four records relating to people’s care. We also looked at eleven medicine records, two recruitment files and records relating to the management of the home.

During our inspection we used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI) observation. SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We also used it to record and analyse how people spent their time and how effective staff interactions were with people.

Updated 12 November 2016

The inspection took place on 27 September 2016. We last carried out a comprehensive inspection of Delves Court Care Home on 4 and 5 November 2015. At that inspection we found there were three areas where the service was not meeting regulations. These related to staff not being deployed effectively to meet people’s needs, people’s dignity not being respected at all times and people not being protected against the risks associated with the unsafe use and management of medicines. We served a warning notice regarding use and management of medicines. At a follow up inspection on 23 March 2016 we found although there had been improvement in how medicines were managed the service still were not meeting the regulation.

The provider sent us an action plan detailing what action they had taken in respect of the areas where they were not meeting the regulations. During this inspection we found the provider had made improvements to the service and the regulations had been met.

Since our last comprehensive inspection we have been notified that the provider has been placed in administration. An experienced care home operator has been appointed by the administrator to assist in the running of the home.

Delves Court Care Home is a nursing home providing accommodation, nursing and personal care for up to 64 older people who may have dementia. The home is spread over three floors however the third floor is being refurbished and is not currently being used. There were 33 people living at the home when we visited. The home has a registered manager who was present throughout the inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the home. 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 home is run.

People told us they felt safe. Staff were aware of how to protect people from the risk of harm or abuse. Risks to people had been assessed and equipment was available for staff to use. People received their medicines as prescribed. People felt there were adequate numbers of staff to meet their needs. Staff received the training and support to carry out their role and meet people’s varying needs.

Staff obtained consent from people before they provided care. Where people did not have the capacity to make decisions about their care a process was in place to ensure people’s rights were protected. People had a choice of meals and were supported to meet any specific dietary needs. People had access to other healthcare professionals to ensure their healthcare needs were met. People told us they felt involved in their care and treatment.

People said staff were kind, caring and treated them with dignity and respect. People were involved in a number of different individual or group activities during the day. Staff supported people’s independence. People and relatives felt listened to and were able to provide feedback about the service. People and relatives said if they had any complaints these would be addressed by the registered manager or appointed provider.

People felt the management team were approachable and visible within the home. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities. The appointed provider had management systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of service provided.