Archived: Cranham Residential Care Home

There had been a safeguarding investigation undertaken by Worcestershire County Council (WCC), who are the lead agency for coordinating safeguarding investigations. The information received by WCC alleged lack of personal care and safety of a person who used the service. The investigation has now concluded with the outcome that the allegations were partly found to be true. The registered manager has submitted an action plan to WCC to demonstrate the action they have taken to prevent any reoccurrence of the concerns raised during this investigation.

When we visited we spoke with people who used the service and we asked them about their experience of the care they received. People told us they 'can have a bath as often as we like', and they 'can get up and go to bed when I want'. People said that they felt safe living at the home and were able to raise any concerns they may have. One person told us 'its sometimes the little things that make you worry more and being able to talk to staff helps to sort out these worries before they get too big'.

People were very complimentary about the staff as they told us they were 'very good' and 'very patient'. The staff are 'very obliging, and go out of their way to do anything for you'. People said that they liked living at Cranham Care Home. People told us that the staff were good and would help them when they needed it. One person said that there were 'not always enough staff, as they go into other units to help out and calls bells are ringing'. We saw people sitting in the lounge area on one unit and the call bell was not in reach. The person we were speaking with had difficulty walking and told us that it was 'a bit of a nuisance not being able to reach the call bell'.

We saw that staff interacted with people in a friendly, courteous and respectful manner and always addressed people individually by their name. We saw that staff offered people a drink mid-morning and also offered them biscuits to eat. In the lounge area on the units and in the seating area by the entrance to the home there were baskets of fresh fruit and snacks for people to help themselves. The week's menu was on display in the entrance to the home, although as seen at the last visit the typeface was too small for people to read if they had poor sight.

At the last visit we found that there was a strong smell of urine, which permeated throughout the home. This had improved, although there remained an underlying odour of urine throughout the home. The registered manager was aware of this and told us that there were plans to replace flooring in the home, which should resolve the current odour problems.

We found that people were receiving more effective care and support, although further improvement was needed to ensure that people's physical and mental health needs were identified and met at all times.

There had been significant improvement in how the home manages people's medicines since our last visit. This visit found that people were protected against the risks associated with the unsafe use and management of medicines by means of making appropriate arrangements for the obtaining, recording, handling, using, safe keeping, dispensing, safe administration and disposal of medicines.

We found that people may be at risk of inappropriate care and support through new staff not receiving a thorough induction and training programme to ensure that they had the correct skills and knowledge to carry our their duties competently.

When we visited the service we spoke with people who use the service in all five units of the home. We asked people about their experience of the care and one person told us it was 'reasonable', but could be improved by 'getting more staff'. People told us they had 'no complaints at all about this place', 'they are a decent crowd here ' food quite good really, can't grumble'.

In the main, we saw that staff interacted with people in a friendly, courteous and respectful manner, although we did observe staff addressing people as 'darling', 'love' and 'babe', which people may not be happy being called. We asked one person if they liked being called 'darling' and they told us 'they use this a lot, I never answer to 'darling' as I do not like this'. People told us the staff 'look after her now and are kinder than they have ever been. So it's getting better ' but it's slow'. Another person told us 'some are very good, lovely, but would not say that with everybody, it varies'. They told us when staff were speaking to them that you were 'not able to hear the last bit of the conversation as they don't wait until you have finished speaking, they rush off'. We observed this happen at the time of our visit. One person told us they wanted staff to respect their choice, and opinion, but didn't feel staff did this. They told us staff 'don't have time and they don't listen. Some are not interested'. People told us 'the cleaners work hard ' they have to do a lot. My room is clean and tidy but I always make my bed'.

One person told us 'the food is a little better ' no flavour to the meat'. They told us they had 'ordered lamb chops for lunch'. They told us they did not get the lamb chops, they got 'some bitty bits of lamb ' not very nice'. Another person told us they were 'usually' given a choice of food, but the choice was 'rather the same'. They told us they did not like the food now, they said they 'used to look forward to it, not now'. They told us the 'meat was not good. The knives were blunt; it takes me half an hour to cut the meat up, so I give up'. We saw staff offering people a drink mid-morning. In the lounge area on some units there was fruit available and a jug of squash with glasses for people to help themselves. The week's menu was on display in the entrance to the home, the typeface was too small for people to read if they had poor sight.

The home had some pet guinea pigs and cats. People told us they held the guinea pigs and helped to feed them.

We found that there was a strong smell of urine, which permeated throughout the home. This could place people at risk of cross infection, as it indicates that urine is not cleaned up in a timely manner. This is also unpleasant for the people who live at the home and indicated that the home was not managing people's incontinence correctly.

We looked at the care records for two people who lived at the home and found there was missing information and the care records were not up to date. This means people may not receive their care in a consistent manner.

We found that the home was not managing people's medication effectively and safely, as one person had not received their prescribed medication for a period of two days.