Archived: Roman Wharf Nursing Home

Harvest House provides accommodation for up to 22 older people who need personal or nursing care. Some people who live in the home experience memory loss associated with conditions such as dementia. At the time of the inspection 22 people were living in the home.

At our comprehensive inspection on 22 and 23 December 2015 there were three breaches of legal requirements related to the deployment of staff within the home, management of medicines and monitoring the quality of the services provided. At our focused inspection on 8 June 2016 we found that the registered provider had taken appropriate actions to ensure they met the legal requirements. At this inspection we found they had maintained the improvements they had made.

CQC is required by law to monitor the operation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and to report on what we find. DoLS are in place to protect people where they do not have capacity to make decisions and where it is considered

necessary to restrict their freedom in some way, usually to protect themselves. In relation to this the manager and staff had ensured people’s rights were respected by helping them to make decisions for themselves. They had also taken necessary steps to ensure people only received lawful care that protected their rights.

People were safe living in the home and staff knew how to respond to any concerns that may arise so that people were kept safe from abuse. Risk assessments were in place and regularly reviewed.

There were enough staff on duty to provide people with the support they needed and background checks had been carried out before new staff were appointed.

Staff were trained and supported to understand people’s needs and provide their care in the right way. People received a varied diet that took account of their nutritional needs and preferences. People were provided with all of the assistance they needed to access appropriate healthcare services.

People were treated in a kind and caring way. Their rights to privacy were upheld and their dignity was promoted.

Care plans reflected people’s needs and preferences and staff followed the care plans when providing practical assistance. People who became distressed were provided with individual reassurance and support.

People were encouraged to engage in meaningful activities and social events. There was a system in place to manage and resolve complaints.

The home was run in an open and inclusive manner and there were systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of the services people received. A registered manager was not in place at the time of the inspection. The registered provider’s area manager was acting as the home manager. Throughout this report we refer to this person as ‘the manager’. 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 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

We undertook this focused inspection on 8 June 2016 in order to check whether the provider had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met the legal requirements. At this inspection we found that the provider had made improvements in all of the areas we had identified.

This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Harvest House Nursing Home on our website www.cqc.org.uk .

Harvest House Nursing Home provides accommodation for up to 22 older people who need personal or nursing care, some of whom experience memory loss associated with conditions such as dementia. At the time of our inspection 20 people were living in the home.

There were appropriate arrangements in place to ensure people’s medicines were ordered in a timely manner and were available when they needed to take them. People received their medicines at the times prescribed for them and medicine administration records were completed appropriately

The provider had made improvements to the way in which the registered manager and staff were deployed within the home. The registered manager had increased time to carry out their management duties and provide support for staff.

The provider had systems in place to identify shortfalls in the quality of services provided and plan for continuous improvement within the home. Regular monitoring of staffing levels took place and quality audits were carried out.

During the course of the visit we looked at records, spoke with two people who lived at Harvest House and with two relatives of people who lived at the home together with five carers and the registered manager. We also observed the interaction between staff and the people they cared for.

One relative told us, "Honest mate, I come every day to see (my relative). It's absolutely marvellous. (My relative) is always clean and dry and always has clean clothes on. Honestly I can't fault it. If there was anything amiss I would see it, not just for my own relative you understand."

We found that people were well cared for and that appropriate measures were in place to ensure that where they required support to mobilise, it was recorded and staff were instructed what methods they were to use to help and support the person.

Staff were considerate and patient and displayed values appropriate to them dealing with people who had conditions related to older age, such as dementia.

We found that people were given sufficient food and drink to meet their individual requirements and where they could not eat and drink independently staff acted sympathetically when they supported them and recorded their food and fluid intake.

We also looked at records. These included care plans and information about how the service was managed. We undertook a tour of the building and observed the interactions between care staff and people residing at the home.

We found that people were provided with a choice of suitable and nutritious food and drink in sufficient quantities to meet their individual needs and preferences. One person we spoke with told us, 'The food is brilliant. You can have as much as you want.' A visitor to the home told us, '(my relative) is so much better now than when they were discharged from hospital. They have even put on some weight. They are far healthier.'

We saw that the building was in need of re-decoration and refurbishment but we were aware that plans had been approved to extend the home and re-locate the existing people into the new building whilst the older part of the home was re-furbished.

The provider had effective systems in place to monitor and assess the quality of the service.

We reviewed all the information that the provider had sent us, visited the premises and talked with the registered manager.

We saw that the provider had taken the appropriate measures to meet the essential standards of care for people who used the service provided at Harvest House.