Archived: Florence House

Updated 4 February 2020

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector

Service and service type

Florence House Residential Care Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection.

We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We met the two people who lived at the home. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a specific way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We spoke by phone to a relative of a person living at the home.

We spoke to four staff, which included a manager from another service run by the provider. They assisted us with the inspection.

We reviewed a range of records. This included one person’s care records and medicine records.

We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 4 February 2020

About the service

Florence House Care Home is registered to provide personal care and accommodation for up to seven people who live with dementia type illnesses. On the day of our visit there were two people at the home.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Staff were kind and respectful towards people. However, we read two records completed by two staff that had been written in a disrespectful tone about the person. The tone conveyed a lack of respect about the person and a lack of understanding around how to properly support people with dementia type illnesses.

People continued to be supported by staff who knew how to keep them safe. Medicines were managed and given to people safely. Medicines policies and procedures were up to date and easily available for staff. Emergency procedures and contingency plans were in place. These help to keep people safe in an emergency. To further support people to stay safe, staff used personal protective equipment when supporting people with intimate care. Infection control guidance was in place and staff had completed training in this subject. Safe recruitment procedures continued to be in place. Staff were supported in their role with training and supervision.

People were supported by a staff team who were stable and had built up warm relationships with them and their relatives. They understood how to meet each person's individual needs and knew people’s routines and preferences in their daily life.

Health and social care professionals worked with people at the home. People were well supported and their needs had been assessed. Care plans and risk assessments were in place to support staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe.

People were supported to receive care that met their needs. Care plans reflected this. People and families were involved in regularly reviewing and updating them with the staff.

A relative we spoke too had praise for the home. They said, “We are very pleased indeed, they seem very kind they treat him as an individual.”

People enjoyed the food and their dietary needs were met. Care plans set out the ways to support people with these needs. People were supported by staff who understood how to support them to eat a healthy diet.

People took part in activities. People were encouraged to maintain contact with relatives and friends.

The overall quality of care and support was checked and monitored. This was undertaken through a range of audit systems. These identified areas for development and improvement. When these were picked up swift action was taken to improve the care and service even further.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection: The last rating for this service was Good (report published April 2017)

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.