The Care Quality Commission
  • Care Home
  • Care home

Archived: Elm Tree

Elm Tree Avenue, Frinton On Sea, Essex, CO13 0AX (01255) 677747

Provided and run by:
Essex County Care Limited

Important: The provider of this service changed. See new profile

All Inspections

7 October 2013

During an inspection looking at part of the service

As part of the inspection we checked on outcomes that were not met at our last inspection in March 2013. These related to care and welfare, meeting nutritional needs, safeguarding people, safety of the premises, supporting workers and assessing and monitoring the quality of the service. At this inspection we found that the manager had made considerable improvements in these outcomes and we found that they were now met. We did not speak with people living in the home during this follow-up inspection.

11 March 2013

During a routine inspection

We had conversations with twelve people living in the home and one relative who was visiting at the time of our inspection. As part of this inspection we checked on the standards that were not met at our last inspection in March 2011. People told us that the standard of food was much better than at our last inspection. However, we observed that some people's nutritional needs and needs for regular drinks were not being consistently met.

People also said that staff had improved now that the home was no longer using agency staff. A relative told us that they were 'generally very happy' with the standards of care. The new manager was promoting activities and stimulation for people in the home. However, some of the staff did not have an understanding of the range of activities suitable for people at different stages of dementia. The care plans and risk assessments were not being kept up to date following changes in people's medical condition and care needs. This meant that staff would not be able to use the records to plan and provide a consistent standard of care.

Due to the high turnover of staff and a lack of training and refresher courses in some areas, including safeguarding vulnerable adults, additional training was still needed. The home was in need of maintenance and some redecoration. The service had a quality assurance programme but greater analysis was needed for it to be fully effective.

27 March 2012

During a routine inspection

As part of our inspection of Elm Tree Residential Care Home we had conversations of various lengths with six people living in the home and three relatives, who were visiting at the time of our inspection. People and their relatives were generally complimentary about care provided in the home but commented on staff turnover. One person told us 'We've lost a lot of good carers recently.' People were not happy with the quality of the agency staff used to cover vacancies, and felt that they needed more training.

The majority of people we spoke with were extremely unhappy with the quality of food, particularly the quality of the meat provided. One person said 'The mince is like grit.' Another person told us that there was more bone and fat on the chops than meat and added that the small amount of meat was 'very tough'. This was borne out by our observation during our inspection. We spoke with the provider following our inspection and they said that they would review the catering arrangements.