We inspected Stanholm Residential Care Home for the Elderly on 19, 24 and 26 October 2017 and the inspection was unannounced. Stanholm Residential Care Home for the Elderly (from here on in this report referred to as Stanholm) provides care and accommodation for up to 26 older people, some of whom have dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 22 people living at Stanholm. Stanholm is located in Edenbridge, in Kent, with 23 bedrooms over three floors, serviced by a lift. At the time of our inspection there were three shared bedrooms, two of which were being shared. Stanholm has its own gardens, a conservatory/lounge area, a quiet lounge and dining room.The service had a registered manager 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.
We previously inspected this service on 29 May and 01 June 2015 where we found breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (regulated activities) Regulations 2014 and we rated the service as Requires Improvement with a rating of Inadequate in the safe domain. These breaches of regulation related to safeguarding people, safe care and treatment, maintenance of premises, good governance, safe staffing, consent, person centred care, and acting on complaints. The provider sent us an action plan stating that they would address all of these concerns by July 2015. We further inspected the service on 25 and 26 August 2016, and found that improvements had been made and nine breaches had been fully met. However, there were ongoing breaches of regulations relating to consent and person centred care. We also found a new breach of regulations in safe care and treatment. The registered provider sent us an action plan stating that they would address all of these concerns. At this inspection we found that although some improvements had been made, the registered provider continued to breach the regulations relating to safe care and treatment, consent and person centred care. We also found seven new breaches of regulations in relation to nutrition and hydration, dignity, display of ratings, requirements relating to the registered manager and good governance. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.
Medicines were not being managed safely. Staff who were trained to give medicines did not have a check of their competence to administer medicines safely, stocks of one controlled drug were not accurate, the administration of creams was not being managed safely and not all people received their medicines on time.
Falls and other risks were not being managed safely. Risk assessments did not contain control measures to mitigate potential hazards and had not been updated following incidents. The auditing of falls had not been effective.
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; the policies and systems in the service did not support this practice. For example, people had not been assessed to determine whether they had the capacity to make a decision. The requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 had not been met.
Not all people’s healthcare needs were being met in a timely manner. One person had not been eating due to a medical condition. Staff had recorded this but had not taken any further action despite the person going 44 hours without food.
People’s dignity was not always upheld. Some practices around mealtimes were not empowering, and one person was left to watch a film in a chair where they could not see the television screen.
Activities were not person centred, varied or frequent enough and people who were at risk of isolation had not been evidenced as being engaged in activities. Care plans were not personalised and contained contradictory information. Daily care reports were focused on physical care tasks and not insightful enough to give a clear picture of the care people had received and their overall wellbeing.
Audits were not effective in highlighting the shortfalls in service delivery found in this inspection. Audits and systems to monitor the quality of service had not generated action plans or driven improvements.
People were kept safe from abuse at Stanholm. Staff knew how to report any concerns. We noted that the local authority safeguarding information was out of date. We have made a recommendation about this in our report.
Staffing levels were adequate to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. The rota used to record hours provided only included care workers and did not contain the hours worked by the management team, cleaner or cook. We have made a recommendation about this in our report.
Staff told us that they had the training they needed to carry out their roles and where needed they had received additional training, although we found some training was not effective such as around the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Supervisions and appraisals were provided to staff but were not planned. We have made a recommendation about this in our report.
People told us that they received adequate food and drink to maintain good health although we found one person had not received adequate nutrition. People’s special dietary requirements, such as diabetic friendly, were known to the cook and staff.
People were supported by staff that had got to know them well and people told us that they liked their staff. Some good interactions were observed throughout our inspection, such as staff sitting and talking with people as equals. People could have visits from family and friends whenever they wanted.
Complaints had been dealt with effectively in line with the complaints policy. The complaints procedure did not evidence who people should talk to if they were not happy with the complaint response, which should include the local authority and Local Government Ombudsman. We have made a recommendation about this in our report.
There was an open, transparent culture in the service. The management team had positive relationships with the care staff and knew people well. The registered manager took an active role within the service.
The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures’. Services in special measures will be kept under review and, if we have not taken immediate action to propose to cancel the provider’s registration of the service, will be inspected again within six months.
The expectation is that providers found to have been providing inadequate care should have made significant improvements within this timeframe. If not enough improvement is made within this timeframe so that there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration within six months if they do not improve. This service will continue to be kept under review and, if needed, could be escalated to urgent enforcement action. Where necessary, another inspection will be conducted within a further six months, and if there is not enough improvement so there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall, we will take action to prevent the provider from operating this service. This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration.
For adult social care services the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months. If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect it and it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions it will no longer be in special measures.