Archived: Eastfield House Care Home

Eastfield House is a care home providing personal care for mainly older people, including people living with dementia. The home supports up to 27 people. At the time of our inspection there were 23 people living in the home.

There was a registered manager 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.

There was a cheerful, calm atmosphere throughout the inspection. Staff were compassionate and clearly knew people well. People enjoyed living at the home and benefited from caring relationships. People had access to a range of activities, both within the home and in the community.

Everyone we spoke with was complimentary about the registered manager and felt confident to raise issues. The registered manager was knowledgeable about people's needs and was supportive of relatives.

People were supported to access health professionals when needed and this was done in a timely manner. Recommendations from health professionals were followed.

People were not always supported in line with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and records did not always accurately reflect people's capacity to make specific decisions.

Risks to people were not always identified and plans were not always in place when they were identified.

There were quality assurance systems in place to identify areas of improvement. Where issues were found, action plans were developed to address issues and improve the quality of care.

We found two breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.

We observed staff speaking to people in a respectful and supportive manner. Staff addressed them using their preferred name. We spoke with seven people living at Eastfield House. People we spoke with told us that they were happy with the care and support they received. When we asked one person about the care they received and they gave us the thumbs up sign and told us 'I have no complaints, everyone here is very helpful'. Another person told us 'I can speak to staff if I have any worries, I am very happy with the staff'.

We found that people were provided with a choice of suitable and nutritious food and drink. People we spoke with told us that they had a choice of food. We observed that at lunchtime people were offered a variety of choices for their meal.

We spoke with five members of staff, the home manager and the operations manager. Staff we spoke with told us that there was adequate staff available on each shift. They also told us that cover would be sought for any staff absences. Records we reviewed showed that staff had access to training relevant to their roles.

There was an effective complaints system. Comments and complaints were listened to and acted on.

We observed staff treating people with dignity and respect. People were fully involved in planning their support and treatment and in making day to day decisions. Staff told us that they followed care plans which they felt contained adequate information.

The provider and staff were aware of their responsibilities regarding protecting people from abuse and the people we spoke with said that they felt happy and safe. Staff felt supported and the provider had processes in place to ensure that people were assisted and cared for by trained and experienced staff.

We found that the home was clean and hygienic and that all staff had completed training in infection control.