The Ridings Care Home

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture. At our last assessment we rated this key question requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care. During our assessment we found some minor issues, which systems had not identified, but overall the quality assurance systems in place were robust. Improvements had been made to systems to oversee the safety of people’s care, to ensure staff understood the importance of consent and the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Systems had also improved to ensure staff provided care to people in a respectful and dignified way. They also ensured that people received person centred care and treatment. This meant the service was no longer in breach of any regulations.

This service scored 71 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities.

The provider had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. People and their loved ones spoke positively about the registered manager and the management team. One relative told us, “The manager is approachable if I had any concern, I would speak directly to her.” Staff spoke positively about the registered manager and the management team. One staff member said, “[The manager] and [The nominated Individual] have always been very encouraging and supportive to me, I am very happy in my job.” Another member of staff told us the registered manager started each day by walking around the home and checking in with everyone to make sure they were ok. Staff told us the management team were easy to contact if they needed them.

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. Staff told us they were aware of the whistle blowing policy and procedure. They told us they would share concerns if they needed to and in most cases felt they would be listened to by the management team. The registered manager and the management team told us about the importance of being open and honest with the staff team.

The provider valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. People told us they felt there was a good mix of staff to support them. One person said, “The staff have a good mixture of skills.” The staff team at The Ridings Care Home were reflective of the diversity in the local community and the population of people living in the home. Some of the people living at the home had lived in the local area previously. The nominated individual told us when they first joined the service, the staff rota was reviewed and changed to better meet the needs of the people being supported. However, during this review, staff were given the opportunity to apply for flexible working opportunities. Some staff had taken up this opportunity. The rota had then been developed around people’s needs and staff availability. Staff also told us they had their rota at least a month in advance, which meant they could plan ahead with commitments outside of work.

The provider had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They used these to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. They acted on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and shared this securely with others when appropriate. However, we found systems to maintain oversight of DoLS applications and authorisations had not been kept up to date. It was not easy to verify whether people had had DoLS authorisations, and repeat authorisations made in a timely way. Upon review we found that authorisations and repeat authorisations had been made as needed. The management team made changes to their systems to make them simpler and easier to review. Services are required to notify CQC when they have been authorised to deprive a person of their liberty. In a small number of cases these notifications had not been shared with CQC. When this was highlighted to the registered manager, notifications were made to ensure all authorisations made had been shared with CQC. We found 2 discrepancies when reviewing medicines management systems. This was addressed by the management team during our assessment. We identified in discussion with the nursing team, different nurses were using different tools and methods to assess people when they had a head injury or a possible head injury. We noted the guidance for nurses and for senior carers was not clear with regard to who should be using what assessment tools. The management team updated their policy and procedure. They communicated to the nursing team which tool they were expected to use to assess the impact of an injury from a fall. Guidance was also improved to ensure all staff understood what signs to look out for when monitoring someone after a head injury or suspected head injury. Overall we saw people were supported in a timely way when they had sustained a head injury or possible head injury. Emergency services were routinely contacted and basic observations were recorded.

The provider understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. They shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement. We saw evidence of people receiving support from a wide range of external services. These included the local GP, the community mental health team, the local pharmacist, occupational therapy, social workers and advocacy support.

The provider focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. Systems were in place to ensure the people using the service, their loved ones and the staff team were involved in evaluating and improving care. The high staff compliance with training showed the service was committed to ensuring staff took the time to keep up to date with training and learning. We saw significant improvements in staff understanding of the importance of consent and capacity assessment. We also saw improvements in support for people living with dementia to help them make choices for themselves. These were the result of commitment from the team to learning and improving. The management team also shared with us plans for improving the home. These included a hair salon to give those who could not easily go out into the community a ‘salon experience’ of having their hair washed and styled. During our assessment the service had a significant number of vacant rooms. We spoke with the management team about how they would manage future admissions as the number of people living at The Ridings Care Home increased. They explained they had limits on the numbers of new admissions they would receive each week. They also explained their focus was on making sure any new people were a good fit for the home, their needs could be met and they would be safe.