Archived: Parr Care Home

We last inspected the service in January 2014 and we found the service was meeting all the legal requirements which were assessed at that time.

Parr Care Home is situated in the residential area of Parr, St Helens. The service is close to local amenities and is served by a local bus route. It has a large well maintained garden area and car parking facilities. The service can accommodate up to 60 people requiring accommodation with nursing and care needs. The service also offers end of life care and support to people which is commissioned by St Helens Clinical Commissioning Group. At the time of our visit 60 people were using the service.

A registered manager was in post. 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.

The registered manager demonstrated outstanding leadership around the service and to the staff team. We found excellent aspects as to how the service was led and the development of relationships within the community.

People were extremely happy with the standard of care and support they received. Family members commented that they felt that the level of care delivered was outstanding. They told us that staff went above and beyond their role to make people comfortable. We found examples of how exceptional care was provided to people being supported with end of life care. The service had for the second consecutive time achieved the highest rating and had been accredited Beacon status, of the Gold Standards Framework for providing end of life care. This resulted in the service being nominated for a care home of the year award by the Gold Standards Framework.

Family members and friends of people in receipt of end of life care had facilities available to them to make their visits as comfortable as possible. Pull out beds, linen and toiletries were available for those staying overnight to spend quality time with their relatives. Having these facilities available helped ensure that family members and friends could spend private, comfortable and quality time with their relatives prior to them dying.

All of the staff were extremely proud of the service they provided at Parr Care Home. We found a culture of mutual respect, openness, transparency and commitment within the staff team that was exceptional.

An area in which the service particularly excelled was that staff supported people in a manner that very clearly promoted their independence, and maintained their dignity. People were supported and encouraged to dress in a manner that promoted their individuality and to maintain their physical and psychological health.

Interactions between people, family members and staff were extremely good. It was evident that positive relationships had been formed and staff had got to know people’s personal preferences as to how they wanted to be cared for.

People had the opportunity to move around the service freely and they had access to extensive garden areas. People were seen to enjoy all of the open spaces available and benefited from having many differing environments to visit and spend time around the service.

The service had developed very strong, positive, inclusive relationships had been formed with local schools that resulted in the school children visiting the service and joining in activities with people such as arts, crafts and baking. These relationships promoted social inclusion and the opportunity for people to interacted and form relationships with children and young people from the local community.

Other activities in the service included afternoon tea which provided a positive mealtime experience for people and helped prevent people becoming socially isolated. People told us that they enjoyed the activities available to them.

Good systems were in place to minimise risks to people from harm. Appropriate policies and procedures were in place to safeguarding people from abuse. Staff were knowledgeable in how they would manage any safeguarding concerns they were made aware of.

Qualified, competent and very experienced staff were on duty to meet people’s needs. Staff received regular training and supervision to carry out their role safely. Members of the staff team had taken on specific leading roles within the service. For example, several staff took the lead on pressure areas care, diabetes and infection control. Staff spoke proudly of the work that they did in ensuring that the service delivered up to date best practice to people.

Care plans were in place that detailed people’s needs and wishes and they enabled staff to deliver care in a manner that people wished. Staff knew people well and their personal preferences, likes and dislikes. People told us that they had great trust in the staff that supported them and felt that staff knew them well.

People had access to health care professionals on a regular basis to assist with the management of their health and comfort. People approaching their end of life had all of the medication they may need readily available to ensure they experienced a pain free and comfortable death.

People were very happy with the quality of meals they received. People’s dietary needs and wishes were assessed and recorded to ensure that they received foods of their choice and that their specific dietary needs were met. Alternative foods were available for people wishing to have something different from the menu.

People and their family members knew how to raise a concern or complaint about the service they received. They were confident that any complaints would be dealt with appropriately. The registered manager had a system in place to acknowledge and respond to any complaints made. The details of any complaints would be assessed and when an area of improvement was identified, action would be taken.

People rights were maintained under the Mental Capacity Act. People unable to make specific decisions were included in any best interest decisions made on their behalf. Staff offered people choices of what they wanted and respected their decisions. People were encouraged to make advanced decision about what care and support they wanted as they approached their end of life. People’s wishes were well recorded to ensure that their needs were clearly known.

People’s faith and spiritual needs were met by the service. A number of services were held each week for people to take communion. In addition, people had access to several weekly ‘rosary meetings’ to offer support to each other in maintaining their faith.

People’s views on the service were sought on a regular basis; any improvements identified were addressed quickly.

People were included in interviewing candidates for positions at the service. This demonstrated that people’s opinions were respected, and that they were involved in decision making within the service.

People were positive about the staff team and the care they received. They told us they could make choices about how they spent their day. One person said, “I like living here, I enjoy it and feel safe.” Another person told us “The meals are lovely, they are really good.” We heard from other people that there were beautiful gardens and a summer house for when the weather was nice.

Throughout the day we observed staff engaging with people in a kindly manner and involving them in decisions about activity related to their care needs. One person said, “The staff are most kind and will do anything for us.”

The home had effective policies, procedures and systems in place to manage infection prevention and control.

The home managed staffing levels appropriately and there were suitable arrangements in place to deal with foreseeable emergency cover.

Staff told us they felt well supported by their management and peers. They said they worked well as a team.

The people we spoke with told us that they had no complaints about the service and that they had a good quality of life at the home. They told us the standard of care was good and consistent.

Within the home they have a sensory room were films and music is played with lighting used to stimulate and sooth residents. The home also has a purpose built old fashioned sweet shop were residents can request sweets of their choice as they pleased.

In the entrance there was a comments book and a suggestion box. One family member had written in the comments book “Each staff who come in contact with our brother showed the utmost kindness to him for which we are truly grateful.” Another family member wrote “Your staff are key; every single person we came into contact with had a story to share with us about Dad. They knew him as a person. They had taken time to talk to him.”

We spoke with staff who told us that the home was a pleasant place to work and that they felt well supported by the management.

We viewed care files and saw there was detailed person centred care plans and risk assessments to support the care needs of each person who lived at the home.