• Care Home
  • Care home

Fairfield Nursing Home

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

10 Quarry Road East, Heswall, Wirral, Merseyside, CH61 6XD (0151) 342 8886

Provided and run by:
Fairfield Healthcare Limited

All Inspections

22 September 2022

During an inspection looking at part of the service

About the service

Fairfield Nursing Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 30 people. The home is a detached property set in its own grounds in a quiet residential area. The service provides support to people in need of nursing support, respite care, end of life care and general assistance with everyday living for people with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 25 people using the service.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People were not supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not support this practice.

Medicines were not managed safely and the monitoring information for people living in the home was not always completed fully. Risks in relation to people's care had not been properly assessed.

People’s dietary needs were identified, however there was no adequate system in place to ensure catering staff had accurate information about people’s dietary needs or risks.

The systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service were not always used effectively to identify and mitigate risks including allegations of abuse.

Information regarding some agency staff not always available and the information provided to agency staff for the safe care of people was not always up to date.

There were a range of audits completed by the provider and manager, however they were not always effective in identifying and bringing about improvements.

Permanent staff were recruited appropriately and they received training and support for their role. There were enough staff on duty on the day of inspection to meet people's needs.

Equipment had been serviced and maintained and accidents and incidents were recorded and reviewed in order to minimise the risk of reoccurrence. The environment seemed clean and welcoming however it had been recognised by the provider that refurbishment was needed.

Complaints were managed appropriately, and referrals were made to other professionals when people living in the home were in need.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 01 November 2017.)

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about the use of medicines, recruitment, and governance of the service. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Fairfield Nursing Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified breaches in relation to the need for consent, fit and proper persons, medicines management, risk management and governance at this inspection.

Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

4 October 2017

During a routine inspection

This unannounced inspection took place on 4 October 2017.

Fairfield Nursing Home is a nursing home registered for up to 29 people. The home is a detached property set in its own grounds in a quiet residential area. At the last inspection in October 2015 we found that the home was providing a good service in all areas. At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

The home provided a comfortable, safe and well-maintained environment for people to live in. People’s medicines were managed safely.

There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. New staff were recruited safely and all staff received regular training relevant to their work.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. The service worked within the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act.

Everyone we spoke with was happy with the meals provided. The meals were presented well and people received the support they required with their meal. People we spoke with said how kind, considerate and polite all members of staff were.

People's care and support needs were assessed and plans put in place for how their needs should be met. These were individualised and covered all aspects of a person's needs including physical, mental health and social needs.

The home's complaints procedure was displayed in the entrance area and provided details about how, and to whom, complaints should be addressed. The manager maintained detailed complaints records.

The home had a manager who was registered with CQC. People told us that the manager was approachable and they considered her a good leader. We saw that people had completed satisfaction surveys. Auditing systems were used to monitor the quality and effectiveness of the service.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

8th and 12th October 2015

During a routine inspection

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of Fairfield Nursing Home on 8th and 12th October 2015. Fairfield Nursing Home provides residential and nursing care for up to 29 people with varying needs. These include specialist nursing support, respite care, end of life care and general assistance with everyday living for people with dementia.

The home is situated in a quiet residential area of Heswall on the Wirral offering single accommodation of a good standard. Each floor has a communal bathroom. On the ground floor there is a communal lounge, dining area and are awaiting planning permission for conservatory adaptions and improvements.

The home required a registered manager. 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. There was a registered manager in post, who registered with the Care Quality Commission in May 2015.

People who lived at the home were happy there and held the staff in high regard. They said they were well looked after. People told us they felt safe at the home and had no worries or concerns. From our observations it was clear that staff cared for the people they looked after and knew them well. The staff we observed and spoke with clearly understood the needs of the people they were supporting and were skilled and trained to provide support to them.

People had access to sufficient quantities of nutritious food and drink throughout the day and were given suitable menu choices at each mealtime. All medication records were legibly

and properly completed. All staff giving out medication had been medication trained.

We reviewed ten care plans, these provided sufficient information on people’s needs and risks and provided guidance to staff on how to meet them. Regular reviews of care plans took place to monitor any changes to the support people required.

We saw that the home had ensured people’s mental health needs had been assessed and had employed elements of good practice in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). We also saw that that 8 staff out of 37 had attended Mental Capacity training, this was mainly senior staff.

Some of the communal areas in the home were being re-modelled and planning permission had been requested for improvements to the conservatory that was tired and shabby. There is a small outside garden with seating facilities which also housed bird tables and bird feeding stations, for the people to enjoy.

We spoke to ten people who use the service, seven relatives and friends and seven staff. The staff we spoke to included nursing, care and ancillary staff.

People and relatives we spoke with said they would know how to make a complaint. No-one we spoke with had any complaints.

The provider had systems in place to ensure that people were protected from the risk of harm or abuse. We saw there were policies and procedures in place to guide staff in relation to safeguarding adults.

We found that good recruitment practices were in place which included the completion of pre-employment checks prior to a new member of staff working at the service. Staff received regular training to enable them to work safely and effectively.

People and staff told us that the home was well led and the staff told us that they felt well supported in their roles. We saw that the manager was a visible presence in and about the home and it was obvious that they knew the people who lived in the home extremely well and that the staff were well supported to carry out their responsibilities.

14 May 2013

During a routine inspection

People living in the home or those close to them were involved with planning of their care so that the individual remained in control.

We found that people's needs were assessed before they moved to the home. Plans to support them were regularly reviewed to ensure their care needs were met. A relative described the staff as wonderful, kind and caring and their relative as being very settled living in the home. One person described the care as second to none.

Medicines were administered by qualified nurses so that people living in the home received medicines safely.

We found that the bathroom flooring identified at our last visit had been replaced and communal areas in the home were undergoing some decoration.

Staff told us that they receive support and training to enable them to do their job. We found that a training plan had been developed to ensure staff knowledge was current.

8 August 2012

During a routine inspection

We spoke with three people who use the service and two relatives. They all told us they were very happy with the home. People told us the staff were always respectful and very helpful. The relatives we spoke with said they had never had any concerns or issues about the care received. All the people we spoke with said they felt safe at the home.

People told us their rooms were comfortable and regularly cleaned. Although the people receiving the services were happy with the home we found that there were failures in maintaining the bathrooms in the home. There was only one shower working in the home which was insufficient to meet the needs for up to 29 people.