Archived: Kingsdowne Residential Home

Updated 28 June 2017

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 22 March 2017 and was unannounced.

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors and one expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Before the inspection we reviewed notifications, where the home sends information about important events, and spoke to healthcare professionals and the local authority for feedback on the service.

We talked with seven people who lived in the home, interviewed three staff and the deputy manager and registered manager. We also spoke with three relatives after the inspection. We reviewed four staff personnel files, tracked the care pathway of five people including risk assessments and other care documents, looked at policies and procedures and observed care throughout the day in communal areas.

Updated 28 June 2017

The inspection took place on 22nd March 2017 and was unannounced.

At the last inspection in September 2015 we found improvements had been made but there was a breach of a regulation regarding governance of the home. At this inspection we found the governance of the home still needed improving and therefore there is a continuing breach in this area.

Kingsdowne Residential Home provides accommodation and personal care for up to 18 older people, some of whom have dementia and are in ill health. At the time of our inspection nine people lived in the home. The home is located in Hadley Green.

The registered manager had been in post since 1995. 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.

Staff had an awareness of safeguarding and what to do if they suspected abuse. There had been no safeguarding incidents in the home for over a year.

The home was clean and odour free. There were some areas of the home that needed some attention. Some carpets were beginning to fray or had been taped up and it had been identified by staff that redecorating would benefit the home and the people living there.

People and relatives told us staff were kind and caring. We witnessed caring interactions during the day. There were enough staff during on shift to meet the needs of people.

There was a range of appetising looking food on offer. People had drinks within reach and were supported at mealtimes where they wanted it.

Not all needs and risks were captured on risk assessments and care plans. Where a support need had been identified there weren’t always clear actions in place for staff to know how to meet that need.

There was some person centred information in care files where families were involved and staff knew people and their needs well.

Activities were not varied or tailored to the likes and dislikes we saw in people’s care files. People were not stimulated during the day, and told us they liked the activities worker that came in but wanted to go out more.

During this inspection we found the audit systems to improve care were not robust and therefore improvements were still needed in the area of governance.

You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.