Archived: Summer Lane

Some people who use the service have dementia and were unable to communicate directly to us. Instead we have relied upon our observations of how they interacted with the staff.

The majority of people were effectively supported by staff with their range of nursing and personal care needs. We saw that care plans supported care practises with information to guide staff to give people the care they needed. Although we observed staff forget to give one person their breakfast until we pointed this to the staff concerned. We saw staff and nurses supported people with their care needs in a calm and friendly manner. We saw some of the staff supported people in a polite and respectful way. However, we also saw staff helped some people who use the service, in a manner that did not convey respect. We heard them call people they were helping 'good girl'. We also heard people repeatedly called "darling" and "sweetheart" by the staff.

We saw staff cleaned the dining room tables after breakfast had been served. We saw two people in their wheelchairs were left in the middle of the room while the staff member cleaned the tables. This conveyed that the task of cleaning the tables was a higher priority then helping the two people to be comfortable and in a room of their choice.

There were systems in place to ensure staff are competent, with up to date information available to guide them, to ensure people are kept safe at Summer Lane.

The overall quality of care and the service people received was being checked and monitored. This was to try and improve the quality of the service and the overall outcomes for people who live at Summer Lane. There were systems being used by the operations manager and the staff at Summer Lane to review and learn after critical incidents and occurrences that have happened that have impacted on people's health and wellbeing.

We observed warm relationships between people and the staff who cared for them. We saw staff talked in a polite and respectful way to people. We heard staff ask people if they wanted help. We saw staff were attentive to people's needs.

The home was a safe and suitable place for the needs of people living at Summer Lane. Effective action had been taken to address an offensive odour that had been present in one of the dining rooms at the time of our last visit to Summer Lane in February of this year.

We observed that staff cared for people competently and in a caring manner. We found that not all staff who were being properly supervised. People with dementia were supported by a staff team who had not yet all completed dementia training. This may have negative outcomes for people with dementia, as staff may not understand the most effective way to care for them.

There were systems in place to review and learn from critical incidents and occurrences that may have impacted on people's health wellbeing at Summer Lane. People were not being fully involved in monitoring and reviewing the quality of treatment and the service they received.

Some people who use the service have dementia and we were unable to communicate and understand them. Instead we have relied upon our observations of how they interacted with the care staff.

We saw care staff and nurses supporting people with their care needs in a calm and friendly manner. We saw some of the staff supporting people in a polite and respectful way. We saw staff helping people who use the service who have dementia, in a manner that did not convey respect. We heard staff talk about people who use the service, 'over their heads' in front of them. We were told by a staff member in front of the person, that there was no point asking them where they wanted to sit for lunch as they would not understand. We saw a staff member helping three people to eat their lunch at the same time. We saw staff helping people to eat their lunch while standing up over them. We saw staff serve food that had already been pureed, and attractively presented on a plate, by mashing it all together in a bowl. We told the manager that staff are not treating people who use the service without respect, were not maintaining their dignity and shows that staff are not seeing each person as a unique individual. This attitude was confined to those people who were unable to communicate verbally. We observed staff talk in a warm and kind way to people who use the services who have dementia, but could still verbally respond to them. But for some people the care staff made no attempt to communicate with to people who could not talk to them directly. This suggests a lack of understanding by staff about the importance of effective communication with people who have dementia. It also suggests staff do not appreciate the importance of respectful communication to people who may not be able to verbally respond.

People benefit from a variety of social and therapeutic activities that take place in the home suitable for their needs. We saw that there is a flexible timetable of social activities that take place five days a week. We saw an activities organiser engaging people who have dementia in conversation. The activities organiser was using old fashioned kitchen utensils to prompt people to reminisce about the past. We saw people who use the service responding positively to this activity.

We met visitors during the inspection who were positive in their views of the home. The people we spoke to said that the staff are friendly and polite.

We found the information in the care plans generally informative and detailed enough to guide staff to provide consistent, suitable care to people who use the service. Care plans are a record to guide staff and explain what care and support a person needs.

People who use the service are provided with a good variety and quality of meals. People are well supported with their nutritional needs.

The environment is a modern purpose built care home. This means people who use the service benefit because of its design. There are single rooms that all have en suite facilities. There are bathrooms which have special adapted baths; these are to help people who may need help to get in and out. There are spacious lounges and dining rooms that have kitchenettes next to them. This means people who use the service have the choice of a number of communal rooms they can use. There is an enclosed garden with seats that people who use the service can sit in. There is also an enclosed first floor garden that is used by people who use the service, who have dementia. The fixtures and fittings and the decorations are in bright domestic colours. This makes the environment look more homely for the people who live there.

We found that the majority of the environment was clean and satisfactorily maintained. However when we checked one of the upstairs dining rooms we found the room was not satisfactorily clean, as we smelt an offensive odour in the room.

Some of the staff are effectively supported and supervised in the work they do. However there is a lack of proper supervision, and training in place for staff who support people who have dementia. This impacts on people who use the service, as it means they are cared for by staff who may not know how to give them proper care and support.

People who use the service benefit from the systems in place to help them to make comments or complaints about the service. When complaints are made, these are fully responded to and resolved where possible, to the satisfaction of the person making the complaint.