Archived: Primrose House Residential Home

Updated 26 June 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 checked 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 13 April 2015 and was unannounced. The inspection team consisted of two inspectors.

As part of our inspection we spoke with four people, three staff, three relatives, the senior carer and two healthcare professionals. We observed staff carrying out their duties, such as assisting people to move around the home and helping people with food and drink.

We reviewed a variety of documents which included five people’s care plans, three staff files, training information, medicines records and some policies and procedures in relation to the running of the home.

In addition, we reviewed records held by CQC which included notifications, complaints and any safeguarding concerns. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. This enabled us to ensure we were addressing potential areas of concern at the inspection.

On this occasion we did not ask the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. This was because we found some breaches of the Regulations at our previous inspection in February 2014 and were following up on those as part of this fully comprehensive inspection.

Updated 26 June 2015

Primrose House Residential Home provides personal care and support for a maximum of 16 older people, some of whom may be living with dementia. On the day of our inspection 15 people were living in the home.

This inspection took place on 13 April 2015 and was unannounced.

The home had a registered manager. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. On the day of our inspection the registered manager was on annual leave and we were assisted by one of the senior carers.

Staff did not understand their responsibilities in relation to the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). People were restricted in the home without staff following the correct legal procedures.

Care was provided to people by staff who were trained, although we found staff had not received recent refresher training to keep them up to date with latest guidance.

Care plans were individualised and contained information to guide staff on how someone wished to be cared for. Care plans were reviewed regularly. However, we found some information was missing or not clear. For example, although we were told people felt safe and risks had been assessed around their mobility, other potential risks to people had not been assessed and recorded.

The environment was such that people may be at risk of harm. We found that staff had not upheld people’s dignity by ensuring people had hot water available to them.

We saw evidence of quality assurance checks carried out by staff to help ensure the environment was a safe place for people to live. However these checks had not identified the issue with the lack of hot water or the information recorded in care plans.

The management structure of the home was unclear in the absence of the registered manager.

Staff did not follow correct and appropriate procedures in relation to medicines to ensure people received their medicines safely.

There was a relaxed atmosphere in the home where people and staff interacted in an easy-going manner. People and relatives were happy with the care provided. Relatives were made to feel welcome when they visited.

There were a sufficient number of staff to care for people. Staff supported people to take part in various activities and arranged activities that meant something for people.

The provider had ensured safe recruitment practices were followed, which meant they endeavoured to employ staff who were suitable to work in the home.

People had care responsive to their needs. For example, one person required care in bed and staff provided this.

Staff were able to evidence to us they knew the procedures to follow should they have any concerns about abuse or someone being harmed.

People were provided with a range of meals each day and drinks and squash were available at all times for people.

Staff maintained people’s health and ensured good access to healthcare professionals when needed. For example, the doctor, optician or district nurse.

Complaint procedures were accessible to people. The provider had not received any written complaints.

People and relatives met together for meetings to discuss the running of the home.

During the inspection we found some breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.