The Orchard - Care Home Physical Disabilities

Updated 4 October 2019

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

The Orchard - Care Home Physical Disabilities is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. The registered manager was absent from the service at the time of our inspection. However, there was appropriate management cover being provided by an acting manager and regional manager.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We checked the information that we held about the service. This included statutory notifications sent to us by the provider about incidents and events that had occurred at the service. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. We also gathered feedback about the service from the local authority and used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with five people who lived at the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with nine members of staff including the quality improvement manager, senior care workers and other care workers. We also spoke with two healthcare professionals visiting people at the home on the day of our inspection.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 4 October 2019

About the service

The Orchard - Care Home Physical Disabilities is a residential care home registered to provide accommodation and personal care for up to 27 people. At the time of our inspection 26 people were living at the home, one of whom was in hospital.

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

People told us they felt safe living at the home and there were enough staff to support them. Comments included, “I always feel safe and secure, I trust the staff, they’re very trustworthy” and “[The staff] are always there if you need them.” Systems were in place to protect people from abuse and new staff were safely recruited.

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.

People’s needs were effectively assessed before they were supported by the home and staff worked effectively with other healthcare professionals to ensure people’s health and wellbeing was maintained. One person said, “If I’m ever feeling unwell the staff help me to get an appointment with my GP.” People also told us they enjoyed the food and drink at the home.

All the people we spoke with gave us positive feedback about the staff at the home and we saw the staff knew the people they were supporting well. Comments included, “The staff are always calm and caring, they’re all great” and “[The staff] treat me with dignity and respect, they help maintain everyone’s dignity and people always look clean and well-dressed.”

People’s care plans reflected their needs and gave staff the information they needed to support them. People and their relatives were involved in the care planning and review process to ensure people’s care plans were person-centred. There was also a good range of activities on offer to people living at the home.

People told us the home was well-led and we saw there was a kind and caring culture amongst staff at the home.

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 28 February 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.