• Care Home
  • Care home

Deer Park Care Centre

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

Detling Avenue, Broadstairs, Kent, CT10 1SR (01843) 868666

Provided and run by:
Phoenix Care Homes Limited

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 23 September 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type

Deer Park Care Centre is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Deer Park Care Centre is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was no registered manager in post. The registered manager had de-registered shortly before the inspection. However, they were still managing the service at the time of the inspection but were due to leave shortly. Therefore, they are referred to as the manager throughout the report.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually 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 four people who lived at the service. We spoke with two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with eight members of staff including the manager, senior care, care staff and kitchen staff. We reviewed a range of records. This included five people's care records and medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Overall inspection

Requires improvement

Updated 23 September 2022

About the service

Deer Park Care Centre is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to up to 38 people. The service provides support to older people with mental health support needs. Some people also had a learning disability. At the time of our inspection there were 31 people using the service. Care was provided to people in one two story building. There was a lift and accessible garden for people. People also had access to kitchen and laundry facilities where they were able to access these independently.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

Right Support:

Staff supported people with their medicines in a way that promoted their independence and achieved the best possible health outcome.

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. Staff supported people to make decisions following best practice in decision-making. Staff communicated with people in ways that met their needs.

There were mechanisms for people to feedback their views on the service. People’s views were listened to and action was taken as a result. Staff felt supported in their role.

Right Care:

People’s care, treatment and support plans didn’t always reflect their range of needs. Some risk assessments were not in place prior to the inspection. However, the service had enough appropriately skilled staff who knew how to meet people’s needs and keep them safe.

Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. People were protected from the risk of infection by infection control procedures.

Right Culture:

Quality checks at the service continued to need improvement. Checks had failed to identify concerns such as care plans which required updating. Some checks had not identified actions were needed, such as supporting people to access dental care. Recruitment processes had not always followed safe practices.

Incidents were reported and action taken to minimise risks to people. However, the analysis of some incidents needed to be improved to reduce the risk of re-occurrence. CQC had not always been notified of reportable incidents.

The management of environmental risks had improved since the last inspection.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 09 August 2021). The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement for the last eight consecutive rated inspections.

The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found the provider remained in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part by a notification of a specific incident. Following which a person using the service died. This incident is subject to ongoing investigation. As a result, this inspection did not examine the circumstances of the incident. However, the information shared with CQC about the incident indicated potential concerns about the management of risk to people’s health and well-being. This inspection examined those risks. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of Safe and Well-led only.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the Safe and Well-led sections of this full report. The overall rating for the service has remained requires improvement.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Deer Park Care Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified breaches in relation to good governance and failure to notify CQC of a serious injury at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will work with the local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.