Archived: Oulton Abbey Residential & Nursing Home

Oulton Abbey Care Home is a care home providing personal and nursing care to 45 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 49 people. Accommodation was provided in a purpose-built home across two floors, with communal areas on each floor.

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

People were positive about the support they received at Oulton Abbey and felt well cared for living there. A person-centred approach was evident at the home. Staff had built effective relationships with people and were kind and caring in their approach. People’s dignity and privacy were respected.

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. However, records in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005(MCA) did not always evidence robust compliance with the MCA and we have made a recommendation in relation to further training around the MCA.

People who lived at Oulton Abbey told us they felt safe. There was a stable staff team and people were supported by familiar staff. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs in an unrushed way and staff had been recruited safely. Safeguarding procedures were in place and staff knew how to report any concerns.

Medicines were managed safely. Risks to people’s health and wellbeing were assessed and action was taken to manage these as safely as possible. In some cases, records could be developed to identify actions taken to manage risks more clearly. The environment was clean and well maintained.

Staff understood their roles, were well trained and supervised. They felt supported and were kept up to date through regular handovers. The home worked closely with several external health professionals. This helped achieve good outcomes for people. Staff responded to any changes to people’s needs and intervened effectively to prevent further deterioration.

Care records were person-centred and provided staff with guidance about people's needs, preference and life histories. However, they did not always include all relevant information and updates. The management team had already identified this and planned to address this and provide further training. Staff were passionate about end of life care and worked closely with the local hospice to support people well.

People were well supported to take part in meaningful activities and the home had good links with the community. People’s spiritual needs were well met. People felt able to raise any concerns and were given the opportunity to provide feedback about the care they received. There were plans to implement resident and relative meetings.

The previous registered manager had recently left, and the deputy manager had just taken up the permanent manager’s post. The provider planned to make further improvements to the management structure and the acting manager had a clear vision for further improvements to the care provision.

Staff were motivated and engaged with the service, they felt able to raise any concerns. The provider had effective quality assurance systems in place to monitor the quality of the care.

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 1 March 2017)

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

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

Oulton Abbey Residential & Nursing Home provides support and care for up to 30 people. At the time of this inspection 28 people used the service.

The service had a registered manager. 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.

Systems were in place to ensure that people who used the service were protected from the risk of abuse.

People's individual risks were assessed, monitored and reviewed; remedial action was taken quickly to protect people from the risk of harm.

There were enough suitably qualified staff available to maintain people's safety and meet their individual needs. Staff had been recruited using safe recruitment procedures. Staff had their training and development needs met.

People's medicines were managed safely; staff were well trained and supported people with their medication as required.

People were supported to access external healthcare professionals and other agencies in order to ensure their healthcare needs were fully met.

People consented to their care and the provider followed the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) where people lacked the capacity to make certain decisions about their care.

People were supported with their nutritional requirements and preferences.

People were supported by staff who were caring and compassionate. People were involved in the planning and review of their care.

The provider had a complaints policy available and people knew how to complain and who they needed to complain to.

People told us the registered manager and the staff team were approachable, friendly and supportive.

The provider had systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service.

At the time of our inspection 22 people were living in the home. We spoke with staff and the majority of the people who used the service. One person told us: "It's really lovely here, of course I would like to be in my own home, but realise I can't be. This is the second best thing I am happy and comfortable". Another person told us: "I can do what I want to do, sometimes I join in the activities sometimes I don't. I like to go to Mass each week and staff help me to do that. Throughout my life I have always been to church so my faith is important to me".

We spoke with staff about the care and support they provided. They told us about the specific individual needs of people. We saw that staff treated people compassionately; offering discreet assistance to those who required it. We did hear anyone that had to wait for support when it was needed.

We saw that systems were in place to ensure that medication was administered in a safe way. This meant people had their medication at times they need them and in their preferred way.

We saw systems were in place for recruitment of staff to ensure suitable people were employed to work with vulnerable adults.

The service has a complaints procedure in the event of people wishing to make complaint. One person told us they would speak with the matron if they had any concerns but at the moment they had nothing to complain about.

We spoke with staff about the care and support they provided each day, they offered an explanation of people's individual needs. We looked at a selection of care records to check the care being given to people and saw the information recorded in the plans corresponded with the information given to us by staff.

We spoke with staff about their understanding of safeguarding vulnerable adults; they told us what they would do if they had any suspicions of abuse. People who used the service told us they would speak with staff or a family member if they had any concerns about the care they received.

We saw that staff were present in all areas of the home, they were quick to offer help and support to people when it was needed. People who used the service told us that the staff were very good and helpful. One person told us, "The carers smile and seem happy in their work, it makes all the difference when we see someone smile, it is very reassuring'.

We saw the service had an effective system for monitoring the quality of the service.