Archived: Tara Residential Home

Updated 7 January 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 27 November 2015 and was unannounced. The inspection team consisted of one inspector.

We reviewed the information we held about the service including safeguarding alerts and other notifications. This refers specifically to incidents, events and changes the provider and manager are required to notify us about by law.

We did not use the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI) as this was a small service and people living at the service spent little time in a communal area. SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We spoke with three people who used the service, one member of care staff, the registered manager and the provider.

We reviewed three people’s care plans and care records. We looked at the service’s staff support records for five members of staff. We also looked at the service’s arrangements for the management of medicines, complaints and compliments information and quality monitoring and audit information.

Updated 7 January 2016

The inspection was completed on 27 November 2015 and there were four people living at the service when we inspected.

Tara Residential Home provides accommodation and personal care for up to eight older people. The provider and registered manager confirmed that none of the people living at the service had dementia related care and support needs.

A registered manager was in post. 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.

People and their relatives told us the service was a safe place to live. Staff understood the risks and signs of potential abuse and the relevant safeguarding processes to follow, so as to keep people safe. Risks to people’s health and wellbeing were appropriately assessed, managed and reviewed.

There was sufficient staff available to meet people’s care and support needs. Staff were able to demonstrate a good understanding and knowledge of people’s specific support needs, so as to ensure their and others’ safety and wellbeing.

Medicines were safely stored, recorded and administered in line with current guidance to ensure people received their prescribed medicines to meet their needs. This meant that people received their prescribed medicines as they should and in a safe way.

Staff received opportunities for training and this ensured that staff employed at the service had the right skills to meet people’s needs. Staff demonstrated a good understanding and awareness of how to treat people with respect and dignity.

The dining experience for people was positive and people were complimentary about the quality of meals provided. People who used the service were involved in making decisions about their care and support. People told us that their healthcare needs were well managed.

Care plans accurately reflected people’s care and support needs and people received appropriate support to follow their personal interests and have their social care needs met.

People told us that if they had any concern they would discuss these with the management team or staff on duty. People were confident that their complaints or concerns were listened to, taken seriously and acted upon.

There was an effective system in place to regularly assess and monitor the quality of the service provided. The manager was able to demonstrate how they measured and analysed the care provided to people, and how this ensured that the service was operating safely and was continually improving to meet people’s needs.