• Care Home
  • Care home

The Laurels and The Limes Care Home

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

115 Manchester Road, Broomhill, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S10 5DN (0114) 266 0202

Provided and run by:
Hill Care Limited

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 12 January 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Act.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

This inspection was completed by 4 inspectors and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

The Laurels and The Limes is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. The Laurels and The Limes is a care home with nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with CQC to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. The manager of The Laurels had applied to register with CQC; their application was awaiting assessment. The Limes had a separate manager who planned to register with CQC in the near future.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection and we sought feedback from the local authority, professionals who work with the service and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 7 people who used the service and 4 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spent time observing the daily life in the service and we looked around the building to check environmental safety and cleanliness.

We spoke with 14 members of staff including the regional manager, the manager of each building, care staff and other ancillary staff. We reviewed a range of records. This included 6 people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at 2 staff files in relation to recruitment and support. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Overall inspection

Requires improvement

Updated 12 January 2023

About the service

The Laurels and The Limes Care Home is a care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 88 people. The service provides support to older adults with a range of support needs, including people living with dementia. The service has 2 separate buildings within the same grounds; The Laurels and The Limes. The Laurels predominantly supports people living with dementia. The Limes is the larger building and supports people who require nursing or residential care. At the time of our inspection there were 60 people using the service.

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

Risks to people were assessed, however the records made by staff did not always evidence risks were managed effectively. People received safe support with their medicines and infection risks were mostly well-managed. Staff understood their responsibility to protect people from the risk of abuse.

There were enough staff deployed to keep people safe and staff were recruited safely. The provider used agency staff to ensure there were enough staff on each shift, but this had placed pressure on the regular staff team who had to spend time supporting agency staff to get to know people.

People were not always meaningfully occupied or stimulated. People told us they were often bored as there was not enough to do. Improvements were therefore needed to ensure people consistently experienced a good quality of life whilst using the service. We have made a recommendation about daily activity provision.

People’s care plans described people’s preferences for receiving care, however their care plans were not consistently updated when people’s needs changed. Staff worked alongside the GP and district nurses to manage people’s health needs. People received effective support with their nutrition and hydration needs.

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 provider’s audit system had not identified all the issues we found during this inspection. However, some audits completed by the provider and managers had identified concerns and ensured issues were resolved.

We received mixed feedback about the culture of the service. Staff morale was not positive, and most staff told us there were not supported to do their jobs effectively. Staff had not received one to one supervision meetings recently and many staff were not up to date with the training the provider expected them to complete.

People and their relatives had opportunities to provide feedback about the service. Most people were happy with the care they received and felt they could approach the managers if they had any concerns.

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 good (published 25 February 2020).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the key question ‘is the service safe?’. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of ‘is the service safe?’, ‘is the service effective?’ and ‘is the service well-led?’ only. For those key questions not inspected at this inspection, we used the ratings awarded at the last comprehensive inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Laurels and The Limes Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement and recommendations

We have identified a breach of regulation in relation to the provider’s governance system. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

We have made a recommendation about the daily activity provision in the service.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.