Archived: Blakesley House Nursing Home

Ratings

• Overall

  Requires improvement

• Safe

  Requires improvement

• Effective

  Good

• Caring

  Good

• Responsive

  Good

• Well-led

  Requires improvement

Our view of the service

Date of Assessment: 19 and 20 March 2025. The service is a nursing home providing support to older people some of whom maybe living with dementia, nursing needs and physical disabilities. The provider was previously in breach of the legal regulations in relation to medicines, governance, safe environment, staffing and food/hydration. Improvements were not found at this assessment, and the provider remained in breach of 2 regulations for governance and medicines.

The provider did not make sure that medicines and treatments were safe and met people’s needs, capacities and preferences. The provider did not have clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They did not act on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, or share this securely with others when appropriate. However, the service had made some improvements, and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations for staffing, environment and food/hydration. Staff now had rest periods and food plans were now more varied and nutritious. The home environment was now cleaner and although there was a need for updating it, we did not observe any broken equipment that would cause harm to people.

The provider made sure people’s care and treatment was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them. Evidence reviewed showed the provider involved a range of health care practitioners in people’s care delivery. The provider worked well across teams and services to support people. We could not verify the governance arrangements with the provider. We did not receive assurances from the provider that there had been improvements made to their quality assurances systems, following our last inspection. However, evidence reviewed showed the provider had assessed staff competence in some areas of care delivery for example, staff were observed during moving and handling support and feedback was provided to them. In instances where CQC have decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this information on our website after any representations and/ or appeals have been concluded.

People's experience of this service

During our visit we spoke with 6 relatives and 2 people. Overall, the feedback was positive about the care being delivered. People and relatives told us the home was safe. A person said, “Yes, I feel safe here. I have no troubles here.” And a relative told us, “[My relative] is safe, well looked after and happy though it is a bit too far for me as I live far away.” Some relatives made comments about the environment for example that the home was old and tired, but that bedrooms and bathrooms were kept clean. We received mixed feedback from relatives about being involved and consulted with on care planning and reviews.Some relatives said they were involved in the service and others said they were fully involved in the service and felt consulted with by the staff team. Everyone we spoke with made positive comments about the food and drinks, such as, “The food is all freshly cooked. [My relative] has not had any problems with the quality of the food. I think the food and hydration side of things is quite good at the home.” People and relatives told us the staff were caring and understood their needs well. A relative commented that the staff turnover was very low, and this was a signal that it was well managed. People and relatives overall made positive comments about the staff and manager.