• Care Home
  • Care home

Abbotsleigh Dementia Nursing and Residential Care Home

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

George Street, Staplehurst, Kent, TN12 0RB (01580) 891314

Provided and run by:
Nellsar Limited

All Inspections

6 July 2023

During a monthly review of our data

We carried out a review of the data available to us about Abbotsleigh Dementia Nursing and Residential Care Home on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.

This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.

If you have concerns about Abbotsleigh Dementia Nursing and Residential Care Home, you can give feedback on this service.

9 March 2021

During an inspection looking at part of the service

Abbotsleigh Dementia Nursing and Residential Care home is a care home with nursing which is registered to provide a service for up to 61 older people who require assistance with nursing and personal care. At the time of the inspection 49 people were living at the home. People living at the home had a variety of care and support needs, such as dementia and physical disabilities. The service is provided within a purpose built residence over two floors.

We found the following examples of good practice.

People were well supported by staff to have telephone and internet contact with their family and friends. The staff facilitated in person visits in a manner which minimised the risk of infection spread, including outside visits, and visits using a specially adapted screened room through an external door on the ground floor of the home.

The registered manager had plans in place to isolate people with COVID-19 to minimise transmission. The service had good supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) that were readily available at stations throughout the service.

Visitors were asked health screening questions regarding Covid-19, received COVID-19 lateral flow tests and were expected to wash their hands with soap and water at an external sink when they arrived.

Staff had received training on how to keep people safe during the COVID-19 pandemic and staff and residents were regularly tested for COVID-19. The building was clean and free from clutter.

Staff ensured people’s welfare had been maintained and they had sufficient stimulation, with activities facilitated by staff.

13 November 2018

During a routine inspection

This inspection took place on 13 November 2018 and was unannounced.

Abbotsleigh 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. The service is registered to accommodate up to 60 people. At this inspection, 46 people were living at the service.

There was a registered manager in post who was present during the inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

At our last inspection in November 2017, the service was rated Requires Improvement. Five breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) were identified. We issued requirement notices relating to person centred care, good governance, dignity and respect and safe care and treatment. We asked the provider to take action and they completed an action plan to show what they would do and by when. We undertook this inspection to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements.

At this inspection, significant improvements had been made and the provider had met all of the breaches found at the last inspection. The overall rating for the service is now Good.

The home was clean, spacious and suitable for the people who used the service, and appropriate health and safety checks had been carried out.

People's needs were assessed before they started using the service and support plans were written in a person-centred way. Person-centred means ensuring the person is at the centre of any care or support and their individual wishes, needs and choices are taken into account.

Accidents and incidents were appropriately recorded and risk assessments were in place. The registered manager understood their responsibilities about safeguarding and staff had been trained in safeguarding vulnerable adults.

People were safeguarded from the risk of abuse because staff had received training and knew how to recognise and report abuse. Staff told us that they were confident that any concerns they raised would be taken seriously by the registered manager.

Staff treated people with dignity and respect and helped to maintain people's independence by encouraging them to care for themselves where possible.

Staff cared for people in an empathetic and kind manner. Staff had a good understanding of people's preferences of care. Staff always worked hard to promote people's independence through encouraging and supporting people to make informed choices

People were protected from the risk of poor nutrition and staff were aware of people's nutritional needs. Care records contained evidence of people being supported by the organisations nutritional therapist.

There were sufficient numbers of staff on duty in order to meet the needs of people who used the service. The provider had an effective recruitment and selection procedure and carried out relevant vetting checks when they employed staff.

Staff were receiving training, supervision and appraisals. Additional supervision was provided to staff around specific areas if needed.

People were offered a choice of meals and snacks. People told us there was a good choice of food and they enjoyed the food they were given. When people needed a special diet and assistance to eat their meals, this was provided.

Activities were arranged for people who used the service based on their likes and interests and to help meet their social needs.

People’s end of life wishes were recorded to ensure that their expressed needs were met during this time. Staff had received training to support people at the end of their life and keep them comfortable. Nurses in the service had received training around end of life medicines and competencies had been checked.

Medicines were managed safely and there had been no errors in administration. People received their medicines when they needed them. Medicines were stored and administered safely. Staff and nurse competency had been checked.

People had access to healthcare professionals and their healthcare needs had been met. Care records confirmed visits from healthcare professionals had been recorded.

People told us they knew how to complain. All complaints had been investigated in line with the providers policy and resolved.

Staff understood the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and were working within guidelines. Staff sought consent before carrying out any personal care.

There was an open and transparent culture within the service. The provider held resident and staff meetings.

The registered manager and provider wanted the service to be homely and for people to feel that it was their home from home. Staff shared this vision and felt it was important that people should be surrounded by things that made them feel at home. We saw peoples’ bedrooms had been personalised.

The provider had an effective quality assurance process. Staff said they felt supported by the registered manager. People, visitors and staff were regularly consulted about the quality of the service via meetings and surveys.

Services that provide health and social care to people are required to inform the Care Quality Commission (CQC) of important events that happen in the service. CQC checks that appropriate action had been taken. The registered provider had submitted notifications to CQC in an appropriate and timely manner in line with CQC guidelines.

It is a legal requirement that a provider's latest CQC inspection report rating is displayed at the service where a rating is given. This is so that people, visitors and those seeking information about the service can be informed of our judgements. The rating was displayed at the service and on the provider's website.

16 November 2017

During a routine inspection

Abbotsleigh Dementia Nursing and Residential Care Home (which in this report will be referred to as Abbotsleigh) 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. Abbotsleigh accommodates up to 61 people across two units within the service, both of which have a dining room and lounge. There are facilities and lifts for people with restricted mobility. All bedrooms are for single occupancy with en-suite facilities. Abbotsleigh specialises in providing care to people living with dementia. At the time of the inspection there were 49 people living at Abbotsleigh across both units.

This inspection site visit took place on 16 and 17 November 2017 and was unannounced. The inspection was carried out by two inspectors and an expert by experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

There was not a manager in post who was registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The registered manager had left the service the week before the inspection. An acting manager had been appointed and had begun working in the service.

Not all people received the support they required to eat and drink. Some people living with dementia did not have the level of assistance they had been assessed for or required to eat or finish their meals.

Peoples records were not always kept accurately and completely in relation to their health needs. This meant that staff may not always respond effectively to people’s health needs.

People had not consistently been supported to be safe. There had been seven adult safeguarding issues reported to the local authority in 2017 and one of these had partially confirmed abuse. Risks to people were being managed through risk assessments, but we found some inconsistencies around how risks were managed.

The premises were well maintained and equipment had been checked regularly to ensure it was suitable and safe. The registered provider ensured that the risk of infection in the service was assessed and managed. People received their medicines when they needed them and medicines were being stored and managed safely.

Assessments of people’s needs were not of a consistent nature. Some peoples’ needs were tracked through their care plan effectively, and other people’s diagnoses were not included in other parts of their care plans. We have made a recommendation about this in our report.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People had received assessments under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and where appropriate had applications to restrict peoples liberty had been made. We noted that one application had not contained the correct information. We have made a recommendation about this in our report.

People were supported by staff who knew them well and people told us that they liked their staff team. People were treated with kindness and staff respected people’s privacy and upheld their dignity. People were encouraged to maximise their independence.

Not all people were supported in a person centred way and people were not consistently supported to be involved with their care plans, or with decisions made around their care.

Complaints were used as a way of improving the service offered. However, not all actions had been recorded clearly. Ends of life care plans were in place for people who wanted them but they did not contain information on the emotional aspect of death or how to support relatives after a loved one has died. We have made recommendations about both of these points in our report.

The registered provider had not fulfilled their responsibility to comply with the CQC registration requirements. They had not notified us of events that had occurred within the service so that we could have an awareness and oversight of these to ensure that appropriate actions had been taken. Quality audits had not been effective in highlighting the shortfalls we found at this inspection.

Improvements had started to be made in the culture of the service since the last inspection. Staff had started to work more effectively as a team. This is the first time the service has been rated Requires Improvement.

We found eight breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this report.

9 January 2017

During a routine inspection

This inspection took place on 9 January 2017 and was unannounced.

Abbotsleigh Dementia Nursing and Residential Care Home provides nursing and personal care to up to 61 older people, some of whom may have dementia. (suggestion is made to write some of whom maybe living with dementia).

At the time of our inspection the provider confirmed they were providing care to 30 people. A large section of the building was undergoing a refurbishment so that the service could increase the amount of people living there and receiving a service.

There was not a registered manager in post. The service had a manager who was going through the registration process with the Care Quality commission. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Staff had a good understanding of abuse and the safeguarding procedures that should be followed to report abuse. The staff we spoke with were confident in following safeguarding procedures and keeping people as safe as they could be.

People had risk assessments in place to support them and staff to manage the risk that was present within their lives. Staff were confident that risk assessments addressed all the risks and were easy to follow.

Staffing levels were adequate to meet people's current needs. The service had enough staff on shift to cover everyone’s needs, and used agency staff on occasions to cover shifts.

The staff recruitment procedures ensured that appropriate pre-employment checks were carried out to ensure only suitable staff worked at the service. All the staff we spoke with, and documents we looked at, confirmed that all staff were safe to work within the service.

Staff received an induction training when starting work at the service. They also received on-going training to ensure they had the skills, knowledge and support they needed to perform their roles.

People told us that their medicines were administered safely and on time. We saw that all medicines were kept securely within a locked trolley , in a locked room. All the medication administration records we looked at was accurately recorded.

Staff were well supported by the registered manager and senior team, and had regular one to one

supervisions. The staff were confident in their roles and told us they felt well supported and able to receive help when needed.

People's consent was gained before any care was provided and the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 were met.

People were able to choose the food and drink they wanted and staff supported people with this. Fresh food was prepared and served to people daily and drinks were regularly offered. People were supported to access health appointments when necessary and had detailed health information recorded within their files.

Staff treated people with kindness, dignity and respect and spent time getting to know them and their specific needs and wishes. Staff interacted with people in a positive manner and gave people the time they needed to communicate.

People were involved in their own care planning and were able to contribute to the way in which they were supported. Family members were involved in making decisions around people’s care when they were not able to themselves.

The service had a complaints procedure in place to ensure that people and their families were able to provide feedback about their care and to help the service make improvements where required. The people we spoke with knew how to use it.

Quality monitoring systems and processes were used effectively to drive future improvement and identify where action was needed.

4 February 2014

During a themed inspection looking at Dementia Services

At the time of this inspection there were 45 people using the service all of whom had a diagnosis of dementia. We spoke with eight people who used the service and seven relatives. Eight people returned completed comment cards.

We found that people received excellent care that met their needs and recognised the specific support they required due to their diagnosis of dementia. The service worked effectively with other health and social care providers to ensure that people's needs were met if they transferred between services, for example when going into hospital. People were treated with dignity and respect and staff supported them in a kind and warm manner. Staff were trained in caring for people with dementia in a person centred way and the manager of the service ensured the quality of care was regularly monitored and improved as necessary.

8 March 2013

During a routine inspection

People made decisions and choices in their daily life wherever possible. One person told us 'The food is good'They always give you what you want.' We saw that people were treated with kindness and respect. A visitor told us 'Staff are kind and never shout. They are very family orientated and very dedicated.'

Each person had an individual written care plan, which gave staff guidance about how people preferred to receive support with their personal, social and health care needs. People's welfare was promoted by social activities. We saw some people in the lounge in the personal care wing enjoyed singing to music.

The home was clean and tidy and adequately decorated and furnished. The manager told us that there was an ongoing plan for maintenance and repair.

People were protected by effective staff recruitment and selection processes. Staff had sufficient time to carry out their duties, one of whom told us 'We have enough staff and we are not rushed.' Staff received ongoing training, which helped them to meet the needs of people who used the service. The manager was knowledgeable about how to work with the appropriate authorities about any concerns or allegations of abuse.

We saw that staff were patient and encouraged people to do what they could for themselves and allowed people time to voice their own opinions and views, which were acted on. A visitor told us 'I have no problems with the care ' they're doing a wonderful job.'

13 March 2012

During an inspection in response to concerns

Not everyone who used the service was able to tell us about their experiences. We spent time observing how people were treated.

People who were able, told us about the things they enjoyed doing and described how staff supported them to do this.