Oakhaven Residential Care Home

Updated 26 February 2021

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.

As part of CQC’s response to the coronavirus pandemic we are looking at the preparedness of care homes in relation to infection prevention and control. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection control and prevention measures the provider has in place.

This inspection took place on 4 February 2021 and was announced.

Updated 26 February 2021

About the service

Oakhaven Residential Care Home is a care home, providing accommodation and personal care to 18 older people at the time of the inspection. Some people using the service had been diagnosed as living with dementia. The service is registered to support up to 27 people.

Oakhaven provides accommodation over two floors. 18 rooms have en-suite facilities and people had access to three fully-adapted bathrooms. Stairs or a passenger lift were used to access the first floor. The home and gardens were well presented. The ground floor and garden were wheelchair accessible. People had access to two lounges and a dining room.

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

People continued to receive an outstandingly responsive service. Since our previous inspection, the provider had been proactive in further improving the service available to people. New systems were in place to manage people’s care records, including their support plans and medicines records. These systems had improved the timeliness and effectiveness of care provided by ensuring medicines errors were reduced, improving communication within the staff team and with health care professionals and ensuring planned care was given on time.

People, their relatives and staff benefitted from an inclusive and empowering ‘people first’ culture where all felt safe, valued and listened to. People’s care was designed around their individual needs and preferences and people were enabled to continue living their lives as they wished. This included continuing to do things they had always enjoyed, like meeting friends in town.

Assessments were completed to manage risks to people and people’s communication needs were considered when providing information to them. Staff worked creatively and flexibly to maintain people’s freedom and independence when risks to them changed and more support was needed. Staff involved health care professionals to increase people’s well-being and independence and in response to their changing health needs.

People had access to a fulfilling and active social life. This included regular opportunities to go out and to enjoy a wide range of activities and events that were meaningful and relevant to them. People’s relatives were welcomed and invited to join any events or outings as they wished to. People’s feedback was sought regularly to ensure the service continued to be person-centred and responsive to their needs. Staff focused on people’s goals, happiness and contentment.

People and their relatives spoke highly of the staff and the support provided. Without exception, people and relatives praised the staff for their caring attitude and commitment. The staff valued and respected people’s decisions about how they wanted to lead their lives and the support they required. Staff understood the different and diverse needs of people and delivered care which was non-judgemental and promoted equality.

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.

The registered manager/owner was committed to ensuring people received a high-quality service and demonstrated their values and vision in guiding and supporting the staff team. Staff understood what was expected of them, enjoyed their jobs and were happy to work creatively and flexibly in caring for the people they supported.

The governance and audit systems were effective in ensuring required standards were maintained. There was a strong ethos of continuous learning, development and improvement of the service within the management team. A variety of local and national resources were accessed to drive improvement and development.

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 ‘Outstanding’ (published 13 May 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.