Archived: Sandpiper Care Home

Sandpiper Care Home is a care home in the village of Alford. It is registered to provide accommodation and personal care to 30 older people, some of whom may be living with dementia or physical disability. At the time of our inspection, 28 people lived at the service.

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

People were extremely happy with the service and complimentary of staff. One person said, “It's the best care home in Lincolnshire. It's wonderful and [staff] look after us. It's like living in a hotel.”

People felt safe and trusted staff, and there was enough staff to meet people’s needs in a timely way. Recruitment, induction and ongoing training processes helped ensure only suitable staff were employed and that they had the required skills and knowledge. Staff were supported by the management team through supervision, appraisals and meetings.

Staff promoted people’s independence and supported people to maintain their skills safely. Staff respected people as individuals and helped them to follow their own routines by providing appropriate support. People pursued their interests and took part in a wide range of stimulating activities.

People enjoyed the choice and variety of food provided and staff monitored people’s health and wellbeing, ensuring referrals were made to healthcare services in a timely manner. Staff were knowledgeable about the support people needed and followed professional advice, though not all care plans were up to date. People’s privacy and dignity was maintained.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The manager promoted a supportive and positive culture. They worked closely with the provider to maintain a high-quality service. The provider included people in the development of the service and invested in facilities in line with people’s wishes.

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 18 January 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

Sandpiper Care Home can provide accommodation and personal care for 30 older people and people who have a physical disability. It can also provide care for people who live with dementia. The service is on two floors with the first floor being mainly reserved for up to 18 people who live with dementia. There were 27 people living in the service at the time of our inspection.

The service was operated by a company who was the registered provider. There was 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. In this report when we speak both about both the company and the registered manager we refer to them as being, ‘the registered persons’

Staff knew how to respond to any concerns that might arise so that people were kept safe from abuse including the risk of financial mistreatment. People had been helped to avoid the risk of accidents and medicines were safely managed. There were enough staff on duty and background checks had been completed before new staff were appointed.

Staff had received training and guidance and they knew how to care for people in the right way. People had been assisted to eat and drink enough and had been supported to receive all of the healthcare assistance they needed.

The registered persons had ensured that people’s rights were respected by helping them to make decisions for themselves. The Care Quality Commission is required by law to monitor how registered persons apply the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and to report on what we find. These safeguards protect people when they are not able to make decisions for themselves and it is necessary to deprive them of their liberty in order to keep them safe. In relation to this, the registered persons had taken the necessary steps to ensure that people only received lawful care that respected their rights.

People were treated with kindness and compassion. Staff recognised people’s right to privacy, promoted their dignity and respected confidential information.

People had been consulted about the care they wanted to receive and they had been given all of the assistance they needed. People who lived with dementia were given the special assistance and reassurance they needed to reduce the risk of them becoming distressed. People had been helped to pursue their hobbies and interests and there was a system for quickly and fairly resolving complaints.

People had been consulted about the development of the service and quality checks had been completed. The service was run in an open and inclusive way, good team work was promoted and staff were supported to speak out if they had any concerns. People had benefited from staff acting upon good practice guidance.

At lunchtime we undertook a Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI) in the upstairs lounge/dining room. SOFI helps us to understand people's perceptions of the care and treatment they receive when they are unable to tell us themselves. We used this to find out about the lunchtime experience of people living with dementia.

We considered the findings of our inspection to answer questions we always ask: Is the service caring? Is the service responsive? Is the service safe? Is the service effective? Is the service well led?

Below is a summary of what we found. The summary is based on our discussions with people using the service and the staff supporting them. We spoke with six people, three relatives and a visiting health professional. We also looked at six care records.

If you wish to see the evidence supporting our summary please read the full report.

Is the service safe?

The home had policies and procedures in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). The MCA states that every adult has the right to make their own decisions about their care and treatment and must be assumed to have capacity to make them unless it is proved otherwise. The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards are part of the MCA. DoLS supports people in care homes and hospitals to be looked after in a way that does not unlawfully restrict their right to freedom.

We saw the service had policies and procedures in relation to safeguarding vulnerable adults and whistle blowing. We spoke with care staff who understood what was meant by abuse and knew how to report their concerns.

Care staff told us they ensured equipment was in good working and reported any faults in order to keep people safe.

Is the service effective?

We found staff attended training courses to meet the individual needs of people in their care such as the care of a person living with dementia.

We saw that before people received care and treatment staff sought their consent or agreement.

The registered nurses told us they attended regular meetings. One told us, 'We have regular meetings, but if we have a problem we get together and discuss and resolve the problem.'

Is the service caring?

We observed staff interact with people. People were enabled to maintain their independence.

At lunchtime we saw one person who did not want to sit at the table to eat their meal supported to walk about the dining room with their meal.

We asked people if they felt well cared for. One person told us, 'All lovely this morning, very happy, very content.'

Is the service responsive?

We saw when care workers raised had concerns about people's health and social care needs, that the provider had contacted appropriate health and social care professionals. The individual care files identified this and a record of actions taken were recorded.

We saw the provider had contingency plans in place in event of an emergency situation.

Is the service well led?

Satisfaction surveys had been undertaken by people, their relatives and visiting health professionals. We saw most responses were positive. We read responses from people and their families, 'Looked after very well, and 'Noise level at night time due to shouting.'

Nursing and care staff told us leadership in the service was very good. One staff member said, 'Leadership ' I couldn't ask for better.'

At this inspection we found all care plans, risk assessments and general health assessments had been carried our monthly since the time of our visit.

The home had three members of staff responsible for activities throughout the week.

We were present whilst lunch was taken. We saw appetising food was served. One relative told us, "I think the food is very good." One person who lived at the home told us, "I like the food very much."

We looked around the home and observed a good overall standard of cleanliness. We saw people's rooms were clean and communal areas were clean and tidy. The home was free from mal odour.

We observed that staff were attentive to people's needs and that people who lived at the home were at ease with the members of staff.

We saw staff interacted with people with confidence. One person said who lived at the home said, "The staff are very, very good; they look after me so well."

People told us their care was personalised to their needs. They told us they knew staff kept records on them and had seen those records and discussed the content. One person said, "Staff show me my care plan."

People told us they felt safe and if they were concerned about anything they would discuss it with a family member, a friend or a staff member. One person said, "I've never had a need to complain." Another said, "I know any personal concerns would be looked into thoroughly."

The people who used the service told us staff were knowledgeable about a lot of illnesses. They said if the staff needed to seek advice from other health or social care professionals they did so promptly. One person said, "When I have needed my equipment changing they phoned the firm immediately. There is never a delay."