Archived: Forest Court Care Home

This service specialises in dementia care and can provide this to a maximum of 40 people.

Forest Court Care 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 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

We received positive feedback from health and social care professionals, such as “I have seen them deliver some very good person centred dementia care which has enhanced the lives of the residents over the years that I have been visiting”.

People were at risk of receiving care from unsuitable staff because robust recruitment procedures were not always being applied. Medicines were generally managed safely although attention had not been given to some aspects of medicine storage.

Sufficient staffing levels were maintained and staff were supported through training and supervision to maintain their skills and knowledge to care for people living with dementia. Risks to people’s safety were identified, assessed and appropriate action taken. People had positive relationships with the staff team.

People were treated with respect and kindness and their privacy and dignity was upheld, they were supported to maintain their independence as much as possible. People and their representatives were involved in the planning and review of their care and people took part in a range of activities.

Staff received support to develop knowledge and skills for their role and were positive about their work with people. The registered manager was accessible to people using the service and staff. Systems were in place to check the quality of the service provided including surveys to gain the views of people and their relatives.

There were safe arrangements in place with regard to medicines. People were cared for in a clean environment and there were good systems in place to prevent the spread of infection. Staff were recruited in a robust manner to ensure people who used the service were protected. There was a good mix of qualified and experienced staff to ensure people's needs were met and to support less experienced staff.

Arrangements were in place to acknowledge, investigate and respond to people's concerns or complaints.

We were able to evidence that the correct processes under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 were being used to protect people who lacked mental capacity. We saw that people were being cared for by staff who were skilled in meeting their specific needs and who adapted their time and practices to fit in with those needs. There were arrangements in place to ensure risks to people were managed effectively. This included robust arrangements to protect people from potential abuse.

The environment had been adapted and people had benefitted from these adaptations.

There were enough staff on duty to meet people's needs and to support the care homes needs generally.

There were effective monitoring systems in place to ensure people were provided with a service that was safe and met their needs.