• Care Home
  • Care home

Seaview Nursing Home

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

71 Filsham Road, St Leonards On Sea, East Sussex, TN38 0PG (01424) 436140

Provided and run by:
St Dominic's Limited

Latest inspection summary

On this page

Background to this inspection

Updated 26 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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

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 carried out by 2 inspectors.

Service and service type

St Dominic’s Nursing Home 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. St Dominic’s Nursing Home 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 the Care Quality Commission 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 a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

Inspection activity started on 12 December 2022 and ended on 19 December 2022. We visited the home on 12, 13 and 16 December 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR) dated 11 February 2022. 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 spent time with people that lived at the home. We spoke to people throughout the inspection and received feedback on living at the home from 9 people. Some people were not able to tell us their views, so we used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI) during the morning of day 1 and 2 of our inspection. SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We spoke to 3 people’s relatives and received feedback from 4 professionals that regularly worked with the service. We spoke to 10 members of staff which included the registered manager, deputy manager, nominated individual, nurses, senior carers and carers. We looked at 8 people’s care plans and multiple medicine records. We looked at documents relating to quality assurance and feedback the home had received from people and relatives.

Overall inspection

Requires improvement

Updated 26 January 2023

About the service:

St Dominic’s Nursing Home provides nursing and personal care for up to 91 people with nursing needs, such as Parkinson's, diabetes, and heart failure, many of whom were also living with dementia. The home was divided into six units, over three floors, Fern, Crocus, Dahlia, Aster, Bluebell and Elderflower. Fern and Elderflower units remain closed currently. There were 43 people living at the home on the days of our inspection.

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

The governance systems had not supported the service to consistently improve and sustain improvement. Audit systems and processes had failed to identify risks to people's safety and other aspects of the service that required improvement.

Improvements had not been sustained since their last inspection and additional concerns were identified during this inspection in relation to staffing and person-centred care.

There was a lack of clear and accurate records regarding some people's care and support. For example, oral care, nutrition and fluid support, and peoples’ mental health. Some people’s care records were inaccurate and did not reflect their actual needs. There was a lack of oversight by the provider and management team.

Risk management was an area identified as needing improvement to ensure peoples’ health and well-being was protected and promoted. We identified shortfalls in respect of the risk of choking, management of dehydration, mental health guidance and the management of specific health problems. Staff practices regarding medicines needed to be further developed to ensure that staff follow the organisational policy for safe administration and recording of medicines. Peoples’ oral health was not consistently monitored to ensure good practice was consistently followed.

Staffing levels were not sufficient at this time to meet people’s individual needs to keep them safe and ensure their well-being.

We have made a recommendation about the mental capacity assessments for people who live at St Dominic’s Nursing Home.

People received care and support from staff who had been appropriately recruited and trained to recognise signs of abuse or risk and understood what to do to safely support people. People were supported to take positive risks, to ensure they had as much choice and control of their lives as possible.

There were COVID-19 policies in place for visiting that was in line with government guidance. Families told us that they were welcomed into the home and followed the guidance currently in place. We signposted the provider to resources to develop their approach.

Referrals were made appropriately to outside agencies when required. For example, GPs, community nurses and speech and language therapists (SALT). Notifications had been completed to inform CQC and other outside organisations when events occurred.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update:

The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (published 17 December 2021)

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted due to information of risk and concern in relation to staffing levels, communication and safeguarding concerns which had impacted on care delivery. We also used this opportunity to look at the breaches of Regulation 12 and 17 from the last inspection in November 2021. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has remained requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

The concerns raised were looked at during this inspection and have been reflected in the report.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led questions of this full report.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. 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.

Enforcement

We have identified continued breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, staffing and good governance at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.