Archived: Oakwood House Care Centre

Is the service safe?

Is the service effective?

Is the service caring?

Is the service responsive to people's needs?

Is the service well led?

Below is a summary of what we found. The summary is based on our inspection of records relating to the care and welfare of the people who use the service, speaking with the provider's one of whom was the registered manager. If you want to see the evidence supporting our summary please read the full report.

Is the service safe?

Oakwood Care Centre provides support to people with varying personal care needs which includes people who are living with dementia. The premises are located on Huddersfield Road, Stalybridge. The building is a detached Victorian house that has been extended to provide accommodation for up to 18 people. On the day of the inspection there were 15 people living at Oakwood Care Centre as the two of the double rooms were being used as single occupancy.

We saw people had a support plan which was 'person centred' and contained instructions for care staff on how to support the person with their care needs. We also saw that risk assessments were in place. We discussed with the provider/manager and the senior care worker the need to include specific risk assessments for skin care and treatments which were being managed by the district nurse. The provider/manager said that these would be implemented immediately.

The home, furnishings and equipment was clean and free from offensive odours.

Is the service effective?

We saw that the people who lived at Oakwood and family members had signed and dated the support plan which demonstrated that they had been involved and agreed to the plan.

We saw from looking at the support plans that there was a good understanding of the person's needs and the care they required.

Is the service caring?

We observed during our inspection that people were treated with respect by the staff team.

We spoke briefly with four people who used the service and one relative. They all said that they were happy with the care they received. One person told us 'The manager is great; she can't do enough for us'.

Is the service responsive to people's needs?

We saw that people's needs were assessed before they were offered a place at Oakwood Care Centre and we saw evidence of visits by health care professionals such as GP's, opticians and chiropody. This meant that the provider/manager was meeting the healthcare needs of the people who live at Oakwood Care Centre.

Is the service well led?

The provider/manager monitored the care plans and other records such as medication administration records to make sure that they were up to date and were meeting people's needs.

A questionnaire had been devised in order to obtain the views of visiting professionals and was to be distributed within the next few days. Any feedback received would be used for the continuous improvement of the service.

Training records were completed to ensure that staff had up to date training. Copies of certificates were kept and an individual record which included dates when training had taken place and when training needed to be refreshed.

We were able to see the 'Welcome Pack' which included a copy of the Statement of Purpose and the Service User Guide. These documents provided people with information that would help them to make decisions when considering living at Oakwood Care Centre.

Is the service safe?

Some of the people who were living at Oakwood House Care Centre were living with dementia and could not always give their verbal opinions on the service they received. However the people we did speak with told us they were happy and we observed that people were treated with care and respect.

Each person had an individual care file that included risk assessments and a 'support plan' to meet individual care needs. These files were not up to date and contained conflicting information regarding peoples care needs. These shortfalls mean that people could be at risk of not having all of their needs appropriately met.

Visiting relatives told us that they were pleased with the care their relative received. They also told us, 'We have never seen or heard anything that would cause us concern."

At the time of our inspection we noted that Oakwood House Care Centre was clean and free from unpleasant odours. However we did see some shortfalls. For example we saw that that the base of the hoist was dirty. The wooden arms of the dining room chairs and the legs of the small tray tables in the lounge required extra cleaning due to a build-up of grime and encrusted food. This was discussed with the manager who made assurances that these shortfalls would be rectified.

We saw that the home had effective recruitment and selection procedures. We looked at two staff recruitment records and saw that the appropriate pre-employment checks had been undertaken before they started working at the home.

Is the service effective?

Relatives spoken with said the family were kept informed about their relative's care. They also told us that if they had any concerns they were comfortable with talking to the manager or the care workers.

Prior to people being admitted into the home a member of staff visited the person to carry out an assessment of their needs. This meant that people could feel confident that the service could meet their individual and personal care needs when they moved into the home. The manager said that if possible people were encouraged to spend some time at the home having lunch and meeting staff and other people living at the home before a decision was made about moving in.

Staff told us told us that the staff team all worked well together and provided a high standard of care.

Is the service caring?

The atmosphere in the home felt relaxed, pleasant and friendly. From our observations we saw that care staff had a good understanding of people's individual needs. We saw that staff were kind and sensitive in their approach to people.

We observed that people looked well cared for and were appropriately dressed.

All of the people we spoke with who were living at the home indicated that they were happy and had everything they needed.

When we spoke with some visiting relatives we were told that the staff delivered care in a kind and caring way. Some comments were: 'Overall care is generally very good,' 'Staff make us feel welcome when we visit' and 'Staff are kind.'

Is the service responsive?

We saw that where appropriate the service had accessed advice and care from other health care professionals. For example we saw evidence of visits from the GP, the district nurse, the chiropodist and we saw that people attended hospital appointments. This meant the provider sought relevant professional advice and guidance appropriately.

Is the service well-led?

The manager told us that questionnaires were distributed to the relatives of people who used the service in order to obtain their views and opinions about the service. The surveys were conducted annually and we saw that the results were analysed and a short report was produced. The manager said that she spoke with the residents on a daily basis to ensure they were happy with the service provided.

Following a discussion with the manager she said she would send visiting professionals a questionnaire later in the year to obtain their views on the service being delivered.

There was no an effective quality assurance system in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service provided. This meant that poor or inappropriate practices may not be identified and people could be placed at risk.

At the last inspection, we had concerns about how the provider responded to incidents, including seeking advice from medical professionals. At the recent inspection, we saw that the provider regularly engaged with other care professionals to ensure people received the care they needed. We saw that the provider had a new system for reporting, investigating and analysing incidents.

We looked at staff records and saw that the provider did not have an effective system in place to recruit suitable staff. We saw that, although staff had a good understanding of people's individual needs, people's care records did not contain adequate information about these individual care needs. We saw that the provider made considerable improvements to the way they documented incidents. We asked the provider to consider how they can improve the records further.

At the last inspection we found that the provider did not have an adequate system for monitoring the quality of the service. At the recent inspection, we saw that the manager now regularly audited the service, for example: to learn from incidents and to ensure staff are providing the necessary care.

We observed that sometimes staff did not ask people for their preferences before making a decision on their behalf. We saw that some people in the home experienced falls which resulted in injuries. We saw that staff did not respond to these incidents according to guidance issued by relevant authorities. We saw that the provider did not have a system in place to monitor and manage incident trends.

We saw that the provider had implemented a new template system for the care records. We found that these records were not always audited in a way that enabled the provider to monitor the quality of the service or to identify and correct errors. We saw that care records did not always reflect the latest information regarding a person's needs.