Archived: Beechwood Place Nursing Home

Below is a summary of what we found. The summary describes what people using the service told us, what we observed and the records we looked at.

If you want to see the evidence that supports our summary please read the full report.

This is a summary of what we found:

Is the service safe?

People we spoke with told us they felt they were treated as individuals and felt they were listened to. We observed that people were treated with respect and dignity by the staff. People told us they felt well supported by the staff. A person said 'I am happy here. I choose what to do.'

The service had policies and procedures in place in relation to the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). Staff had been trained in this area to help to protect people's rights.

Systems were in place to make sure that the manager and staff learnt from events such as accidents and incidents, complaints and concerns. This helped to reduce the risk to people and ensured that the service strived to continually improve.

Is the service effective?

People's health and care needs were assessed with them or with their chosen representative. People were encouraged to live their life even if there were risks attached to this which promoted people's independence.

Help and advice was gained from relevant health care professionals to ensure that people received the help and support they needed. This helped to maintain people's health and wellbeing.

People were provided with a choice of nutritious food. Snacks and drinks were available to people at regular intervals and upon request. People's special dietary needs were well known by all the staff and relevant health care professionals were involved in monitoring people's nutritional needs. This helped to ensure that people had their nutritional needs met.

Is the service caring?

People were seen to be supported by staff who appeared to be patient and kind. Staff appeared to know people's need well. Staff offered assistance and support to people in a timely way.

We saw staff spent time with people. For example: we saw a member of staff sitting and speaking with a person whilst encouraging and helping them to eat. People we spoke with during our visit said they enjoyed living at the home. A person said " The staff are there for me when I need them."

People using the service, relatives GP's and the hairdresser was asked on a yearly basis to complete a satisfaction survey. We saw that where shortfall or concerns were raised these were addressed. This helped people to feel listened to and supported.

Is the service responsive?

Information was provided to people about how to make a complaint. This was available in a format that met people's needs. Staff spent time observing people and asked people for their views. We saw that staff acted upon comments made to them to ensure they remained happy with the service they received.

We looked at how complaints received had been handled. Two issues had been raised in 2014. These issues had been investigated and the complainant's had been satisfied with the action taken to resolve the issues raised. People can therefore be assured that complaints would be investigated and corrective action would be taken, as necessary.

Is the service well led?

The service worked well with other health care professionals to ensure that people could receive the care they needed.

Quality assurance systems were in place. The quality of the service provided was constantly reviewed and, where necessary, improved.

Staff we spoke with were clear about their roles and responsibilities. All the staff we spoke with told us they were happy working at the home. One said "It is a nice place to work it is a pleasure to come to work. We have staff meetings. When staff raise issues they are dealt with." The ethos of the home was to maintain and improve the quality of the service provided to people.

We observed a high quality of care during our visit and people told us that they were happy with the support they received. One person told us 'I like it here'. Another person told us 'I think it's very good'. We looked at care plan files and found them to detailed and accurate. All the files we looked at had been regularly reviewed.

We carried out a full inspection of the service and found all areas to be clean, tidy and hygienic. There were robust infection control procedures in place and these were followed by staff consistently.

We looked at medications and found their storage, administration and monitoring to be appropriately recorded and carried out. We also looked at staff records and induction processes and found the appropriate documents to be in place and that recruitment and induction processes were used effectively by the service.

The service had appropriate quality assurance systems in place and had evidence of various ways people who used the service, staff and relatives were given the opportunity to give feedback, which was then acted on appropriately. The manager and staff carried out audits and checks of various systems within the service.

We found that the provider had rewritten all nutrition and hydration plans for people who lived in the service and that these plans were regularly reviewed. The provider had also started to use the MUST system (Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool) and people were being regularly weighed and monitored and referrals were made to healthcare professionals where appropriate. We observed a meal time and people were given choice and assistance where it was required. People were happy with the choices they were given.

We looked at various records within the home including care plans and medication files. We found that the care plan files had been rewritten in much more detail using an individualised approach taken. These were reviewed and updated monthly and all those we looked at were up to date and relevant. We looked at storage of documentation and found that improvements had been made but there was still some further action needed to ensure that records were not accessible to unauthorised people.