This inspection took place on 16 September 2015 and was unannounced. We previously visited the service on 18 June 2014 and we found that the registered provider met the regulations we assessed.
The service is registered to provide personal care and accommodation for up to 37 older people, some of whom may be living with dementia. The home is registered to provide personal care and nursing care. On the day of the inspection there were 20 people living at the home. The home is located in Hornsea, a seaside town in the East Riding of Yorkshire. It is close to town centre amenities and is on good transport routes.
The registered provider is required to have a registered manager in post and on the day of the inspection there was a manager in post who was not registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), although they were in the process of submitting their application. 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.
People told us that they felt safe living at Summer Court and we saw that the premises had been maintained in a safe condition.
We found that people were protected from the risk of harm or abuse because the registered provider had effective systems in place to manage any safeguarding issues. Staff were trained in safeguarding adults from abuse and understood their responsibilities in respect of protecting people from the risk of harm.
The manager and some staff had completed training on the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). There was clear information available to staff in the manager’s office on the principles of the MCA and DoLS and staff were able to explain these principles to us. People were supported to make their own decisions when they had capacity to do so, and best interest meetings were held when people did not have the capacity to make decisions for themselves.
Staff confirmed that they received induction training when they were new in post and told us that they were happy with the training provided for them. The manager told us that a new induction programme was being introduced by the organisation and this would result in more robust induction training for staff. The training records evidenced that most staff had completed training that was considered to be essential by the home and that most staff had achieved a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ).
New staff had been employed following the home’s recruitment and selection policies to ensure that only people considered suitable to work with older people had been employed. We saw that there were sufficient numbers of staff on duty to meet people’s individual needs. People told us that staff were caring and we observed that staff had a caring and supportive attitude towards people.
Medicines were administered safely by staff and the arrangements for ordering, storage and recording were robust. Staff who had responsibility for the administration of medication had completed appropriate training.
People told us they were happy with the meals provided by the home. We saw that people’s nutritional needs had been assessed and that their special diets were catered for. We saw there was a choice available at each mealtime. More care needed to be taken to ensure people received one to one support with eating and drinking.
There were systems in place to seek feedback from people who lived at the home and relatives / visitors. Feedback had been analysed to identify any improvements that needed to be made. There had been no formal complaints made to the home during the previous twelve months but there were systems in place to manage complaints if they had been received.
People who lived at the home, relatives and staff told us that the home was well managed. The quality audits undertaken by the manager were designed to identify any areas that needed to improve in respect of safety and people’s care. We saw that, on occasions, incidents that had occurred at the home had been used as a learning opportunity for staff.