Archived: Hovenden - Care Home with Nursing Physical Disabilities

Records showed people were encouraged and supported to make decisions about their care. People had been asked to discuss their goals and what activities they wanted to take part in.

People told us staff supported them with their medication. One person said, “Staff are good at giving medication, they look after them [tablets] for us and put cream on when needed.” We observed a medication round. We could see medication was administered safely.

We reviewed the staff rotas that had been created by the manager for a period of two weeks in June 2013. We saw shifts were fully staffed to the levels described by the manager.

The provider took account of complaints and comments to improve the service. People told us they were able to raise concerns with the manager. One person told us, “I feel I can speak to the manager.” They also said, “I can go to the manager and they will do something about it.”

We saw the provider had changed the way care was planned and recorded. The provider had introduced a new person centred care plan system. People told us they had been working with staff on the new care plans. The new care plans had a clear structure and an index so information was easy to find.

People told us they were involved in their care and we saw they had signed their care plans.

People told us staff were not always respectful when they spoke to them. One person told us, “It’s sometimes a bit rough the way the staff speak, it’s not my fault it’s the way I am.” Another person said, “They don’t understand how I feel, I find it frustrating sitting in a chair all day.”

People told us care met their needs. One person told us, “I don’t usually have to call at night but if I was uncomfortable the carers will come and fetch the nurse if I need painkillers” Another person said, “They don’t sit and talk to me about my care needs but the staff are really good at caring.”

We saw medication was administered appropriately. However there was a lack of investigation into errors and out of date medication was not disposed of.

Systems were in place to identify the number of staff required to meet people’s needs. However, we saw shifts were not always fully staffed. One person told us, “They are short of staff, sometimes the staff work double shifts and they definitely need more staff.”

We saw there were systems in place to respond to complaints.

Records did not always reflect the care given to people. Care plans were untidy and contained out of date information.