Preston Private Care Home

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture.

This was the first assessment for this service. This key question has been rated good. This meant the service was generally well managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality care.

This service scored 71 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The service had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities.

Staff spoke about the visions and values of the service. One staff member said, "I think they try to achieve people being safe and prioritising people and supporting their independence." The service adopted a positive and open culture which we witnessed during our inspection. Various policies were in place to support an open culture, and the registered manager told us "We look at incidents and accidents as well through audit to look at risk. We do a swarm huddle (a meeting between staff) to see if the incident could have been avoided. There is no blame. It helps keep an open culture."

The service had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty.

Staff spoke positively about the management of the home. One staff member said, "Yes, she (the registered manager) definitely is (approachable). She comes around every morning to see people." We found the management team approachable, capable, compassionate and open throughout our inspection. The registered manager was very involved in the service, and we noted that both visiting professionals and staff members had family members who lived at the home, as they felt confident in the care being provided and the oversight by the management.

The service fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard.

Staff knew how to whistleblow and they felt confident to speak up should they need to. The provider had a whistleblowing policy available to staff. Staff were able to raise any concerns in team meetings and through surveys or directly with the management.

The service valued diversity in their workforce. They work towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who work for them.

Staff told us they felt they were treated equally and they said the management was approachable and fair to all staff. An equality and diversity policy was in place which set out how they supported equality and diversity, and staff completed equality and diversity training. The service employed a diverse range of staff.

The service had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability, though some aspects of governance needed to be improved to ensure good governance in all areas of the service. However, they did act on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and share this securely with others when appropriate.

Multiple audits and oversight tools were in place and for the most part they were robust. However, they had failed to identify some of the minor concerns we have found as detailed in this report. The registered manager was looking at ways they could drive consistency/oversight across all 4 units in the home. Multiple policies did not detail necessary information. The registered manager worked to address this immediately.

Provider oversight was robust. The regional manager regularly visited the home and was in regular contact with he registered manager and it appeared a good working relationship was in place. We found peoples records were being securely stored. Staff told us they felt the service was well managed. During our inspection we found that any issues we identified were acted upon immediately. This offered assurance the registered manager, deputy manager and provider were passionate to provide good safe care for people.

The service understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services work seamlessly for people. They share information and learning with partners and collaborate for improvement.

People and their loved ones felt they/their loved ones were supported to access the local community. We were told the home had its own minibus, and people told us that they went out on day trips to places like a garden centre and Lytham St Annes. The registered manager told us how they worked in partnership with/and involve external professionals and records supported this. The registered manager spoke to us about how they worked with the local university to support students on health care courses to go into a live care environment and communicate with people using the service and people enjoyed chatting to them.

We saw examples of the service working with various organisations. People could gain access to advocates when needed. Partners felt the service worked in a collaborative and joined-up way with their organisation.

The service focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They actively contribute to safe, effective practice and research.

Generally, leaders ensured that the service actively contributed to safe, effective practice as detailed throughout this report. The service had built strong external relationships that support improvement, this was clear to see during our conversations with professionals. The registered manager told us how they continually tried to improve, they said, "We want to continually improve, it can be small things like better improving activities or what specialist care we can provide, we have started conversations around bariatric care as there is a gap in the market, it's about keeping an open mind and an eye on the market for any gaps.”