Background to this inspection
Updated
14 February 2020
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
Two inspectors and one specialist advisor attended the service on one day and one inspector returned to the service for a second day.
Service and service type
The Laughton Croft is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.
At the time of our inspection the service had a manager registered with the CQC. A registered manager and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
This inspection was unannounced.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had about the service prior to our inspection. This included previous inspection reports, details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse and accidents. We spoke with the local authority quality monitoring team who work with the service.
The provider was not asked to send us a provider information return form prior to the inspection. This is information providers are required to send us yearly with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.
We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with five people at the service and two relatives to ask about their experience of the care provided. We used the Short Observational Framework for inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.
We spoke with two members of care staff, the registered nurse, the cook and the activities coordinator. We also spoke the registered manager and the provider and a visiting health professional.
We reviewed a range of records. This included all, or sections of six care records, medication records, and staff files. We also looked at the training matrix, audits, accident records and records relating to the management of the home.
After the inspection
We reviewed further information sent by the service for the report. This included information on the ongoing work related to the environment.
Updated
14 February 2020
Laughton Croft is a nursing home providing personal and nursing care to 24 people at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 36 people.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The environment people lived in did not always meet their needs and was not maintained in a timely way. There had been consistent problems with the central heating system for a number of months impacting on the provider’s ability to provide consistent hot water and maintain temperatures at the service in line with government guidelines. Leaks in the roof had caused a hole in the ceiling in one of the communal areas and some furniture in place was not fit for purpose.
The risks to people’s safety were not always managed safely. Staff did not always follow guidance in people’s care plans to provide care for people and some care plans lacked clarity on the care some people required. Medicines were not always managed safely and due to environmental concerns the risks related to infection prevention were not always well managed.
Although we saw there were quality monitoring processes in place being used effectively by the registered manager to improve standards of care. The processes had not been used effectively to highlight and address the issues we identified with the environment people lived in.
People were supported by adequate numbers of staff and safe recruitment processes were in place. There were systems and processes in place to manage safeguarding issues. People felt safe with the staff who supported them and the registered manager had processes in place to learn from events to improve the care for people at the service.
People were supported by staff who had received relevant training for their roles. People’s nutritional needs were managed well by the staff at the service who worked together to provide nutritious and were well presented meals for people. Nationally recognised assessment tools were used to assess their nutritional needs and people told us they enjoyed the food provided.
Staff worked together to effectively manage people’s health needs and there was evidence of how staff worked with health professionals to meet these needs.
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 were supported by staff who worked in a caring way and people told us they felt comfortable with staff. People’s views on their care were considered and where people required support from Advocates, the registered manager facilitated this support.
People were supported to enjoy social activities of their choice both as part of group and on an individual basis. When people wished to complain about any aspect of their care the registered manager was responsive and people felt their concerns or complaint were taken seriously and well managed.
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 4 January 2017)
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment and premises and equipment at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.