Archived: Oak Tree Manor

Oak Tree Manor is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Oak Tree Manor provides accommodation for up to 65 older people some who live with dementia. The home is not registered to provide nursing care. At the time of the inspection there were 34 people living there. The service planned on amending their registration to reflect the number of people they currently supported.

The service had a manager who was about to register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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.

There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service. However, they had not identified the areas that required improvement that we found on inspection. This was mainly in relation to records, systems and processes. People and staff were positive about the running of the home.

Accidents and incidents needed to have remedial actions taken recorded and a system for identifying themes and trends needed to be developed to ensure it was robust. Medicines were managed safely. However there were some areas for development.

People were supported in a safe way and staff knew how to recognise and report any risks to people’s safety. However, staff knowledge in relation to evacuation in the event of a fire needed to be improved. Staff were recruited safely and received regular supervision and updates to their training. There were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs in a timely way.

Most people were supported in accordance with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, however, documentation needed improving.

People were positive about the food. However it was not clear if people were aware there was a choice of meals. People had access to health and social care professionals as needed.

People were treated with respect and kindness. We also found that people’s privacy and dignity was promoted. People and their relatives were involved in the planning of their care. Confidentiality was promoted as staff spoke discreetly about people and records were stored securely.

People received care in a person centred way however care plans required further development to ensure they accurately reflected the care provided. People enjoyed the activities provided and there was a complaint’s process which people and their relatives knew how to use.

We spoke with staff who told us that they felt supported by the manager however some of the staff we spoke with did not feel supported by the provider. We also found there were communication difficulties amongst the staff team.

Staff told us how they enjoyed working at the home and felt supported by the manager of the home. However, some of the staff told us that they were frequently short staffed and that when they were short, it was difficult to manage. Some staff also told us that some of the senior care workers could be unkind and would sometimes shout at them.

Most staff told us that when they were fully staffed, Oak Tree Manor was a nice place to work.

Our review of the staff rotas reflected staff concerns. The manager informed us that the home had not been at full occupancy for some time.

We found the home to be visibly clean on the day or our inspection and people had had their personal care needs met.

The people we spoke to told us that they were satisfied with the care they had received. They told us that they found the staff to be friendly and helpful. Although one person commented that not all staff knocked before entering and that some staff could be less gentle when providing personal care despite this, they still found staff to be caring.

One person told us, 'The staff here are pretty good'. A family member told us that they were very pleased with the care their relative had received.

People told us they were satisfied that there were plenty of activities, with different things to do around the home each day.

People were satisfied that there was plenty of activities and we observed some of the residents enjoying entertainment from a country and western singer during the afternoon of our visit.

People told us how their privacy and dignity was respected and that staff always closed the doors when they're helping with personal care. We observed the home to be visibly clean on the day of our visit; all the people appeared to have had their personal care needs met. Although we did notice that napkins were not provided at lunchtime and some people were observed to have left the dining room without clean hands and faces.

We also observed that people's health records were not always locked away; records were kept in a lockable office, but this was not always locked.

Staff told us how they enjoyed working at the home and felt supported by management.

Overall we found that standards were being met.