Archived: Winton Care Home

Care and treatment was planned and delivered in a way that was intended to ensure people's safety and welfare. At this inspection we found that the home was in the process of updating the way they recorded people's care needs. They had been working with the Quality Improvement Officer, from the local authority, and the provider's training manager to improve the care plan documentation. The new care plans were person centred and contained relevant assessments and information to direct staff to provide appropriate care.

We saw that staff interacted well with the people at the home and provided care and support in a friendly and caring way. Staff were enthusiastic about the new care records that had recently been introduced into the home. They told us that they had been trained and supported to complete and maintain these records consistently.

We saw that daily records had been completed in a timely way and records for the days before our visit were complete and informative.

Through our observations and by speaking with people we found that generally people were happy with the care and support they received. Staff interacted with people in a calm and professional way and appeared to know people's preferences and needs well. One of the people we spoke with told us: "The staff are very kind."

Throughout the day we saw that people were offered regular hot drinks and at mealtimes people were also offered a choice of cold drink. We saw that people in their rooms had drinks available and within reach. We heard staff regularly prompting people to drink.

The provider monitored many aspects of the home. They used comments provided by people and relatives to make changes to the service.

During our visits we spoke with eleven staff who all understood people's care and welfare needs. However we had concerns that the recording and monitoring of people's care was not always completed in a timely way or provided current information for staff. The planning of care in some cases did not always ensure that people's needs were met.

Our inspection of 19 November 2012 found that regular audits of the premises had not taken place, therefore a number of maintenance and safety issues had not been identified. During this visit we looked at all areas of the premises and looked at the maintenance and safety issues which had caused concern at our last visit. We saw that all the areas we had identified had been addressed.

Our inspection of 19 November 2012 found that staff did not always have time to provide support for people's emotional and social needs. We were told that since our last visit the service had recruited two registered nurses and four healthcare assistants. Two of the healthcare assistants were still completing their induction and had not yet started to work at the home.

A relative we spoke with said: 'The staff are meticulous with medication and care.' and: 'They come when I need them.'

At the time of our inspection there was no registered manager employed at Winton Care Home. However, the previous manager had not deregistered with CQC at the time of the inspection, therefore their name still remains on any reports until such time that this information is received.

We observed that staff worked in ways that respected people's privacy, dignity and independence. A person told us that, 'all staff are very nice, polite and helpful, I like it here'.

Three of the four care records we looked at contained comprehensive, up-to-date information about people's health and social care needs. There was evidence that regular reviews took place to ensure that people continued to receive appropriate care, treatment and support.

We saw staff training records which showed that staff had taken part in safeguarding vulnerable adults training.

During our visit we saw that there were a number of maintenance issues which had not been dealt with. In some cases the lack of adequate maintenance caused a risk to the safety of the people who used the service.

Staff rotas showed that out of 28 day time shifts only 14 were staffed to the level identified by the care needs analysis.

People we spoke with felt confident that should they need to complain they would know who to raise their concerns with. One person told us 'I would tell my relative if I was unhappy and ask him to complain for me.'