Archived: Oakwood Residential Home

People told us 'You'll never get a better manager. You'll not get better carers. This is the God's honest truth,' 'They are all wonderful in here,' 'You get good grub,' 'It's alright, I'm happy living here,' 'You can choose to get up when you want and go to bed when you want,' 'They are all wonderful here,' and 'The food is very good.'

However, despite these positive comments we found peoples' care and welfare needs were not planned in a way which ensured people's their safety and welfare. This was because for some people with complex health and social care needs there were no assessments or risk management plans in place to guide staff and to ensure people's safety.

Although staff told us they felt supported we found staff had not been provided with the training they needed to meet the diverse health and social care needs of the people in their care. We also found there were not enough staff on duty to safely meet the care and welfare needs of people living in the home.

We found the provider had an adequate system to monitor the quality of service provided. There was also an effective complaints procedure in place so people knew their views would be listened to.

We found the provider had taken steps to improve the environment. For example, new carpets had been laid in the corridors, a number of bedrooms had been re-decorated and missing tiles had been replaced in the toilet on the first floor, as had missing tiles in the laundry.

We also found the staff recruitment procedure ensured people's safety. This was because the manager carried out appropriate checks before new staff were allowed to work unsupervised in the home.

People we spoke with told us they were involved in decisions about their care.

We watched how the staff supported the people in their care. We saw people were treated with dignity and respect. For example, when staff talked with people they made sure that they got down to their eye level. When people were supported to walk, they were not rushed but supported to move at a pace comfortable for them.

We looked around the home and found this was not well maintained. For example, the corridor carpets were badly stained and frayed in places. Some of the home's servicing certificates were also out of date.

We found the staff recruitment procedure put people at risk. This was because the person in charged had not always checked people had not been referred to the Independent Safeguarding Authority before allowing them to work in the home.