- Care home
Palm Court Nursing Home
Assessment report published 14 July 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Palm Court Nursing Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care for up to 53 people. The service provides support to older people and people living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 37 people using the service. This unannounced inspection was carried out by 2 inspectors and took place on the 7,12 and 14 May 2025.
This inspection was to follow up on previous breaches of Regulations relating to; Safe Care and Treatment, Person Centred Care and Good Governance. At this inspection we found sufficient improvements had not been made and the provider remained in breach. A fourth breach of regulation was also identified in relation to Staffing.
We found significant concerns with regards to people’s safety. Risks to people had not been addressed. The provider had not taken action to rectify safety issues around the home, this included fire safety systems and processes. Accidents and incidents had not been safely managed to protect people from the risk of falls, injury or unexplained bruising. People’s nutritional needs had not been reviewed and updated when changes had occurred.
Staffing levels were not appropriate to meet people’s needs. Improvements were needed to ensure staffing was safe and appropriate. Staff had not received adequate support, including a lack of robust induction, training and supervision.
The provider had not maintained good governance. There was a lack of audits and oversight. This meant opportunities for improvement had been missed. The provider had been in repeated breach of regulation over a number of previous inspections. Improvements had not been introduced or sustained.
The service is in special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure that services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provide a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide.
Where CQC have decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded.
People's experience of this service
While people expressed general satisfaction with their care and treatment, our inspection found care and support did not meet the expected standards.
Not everyone was able to tell us their experience of living at Palm Court Nursing Home due to their dementia or other nursing needs; therefore, we carried out a number of observations throughout the inspection to see people’s experience of care and how care and support was provided. Those who could told us, they liked living at the home. Relatives felt that staff were kind and worked hard and one told us, “I feel [relatives name] is looked after here.” Relatives also told us that staff changed frequently, and it was hard to know who people were. We have since been informed by the provider following the inspection that name badges are being purchased.
People and relatives did comment that some areas of the home could do with redecoration. One relative said, “The building is basic but clean, rooms have not got a lot in them.” We found that maintenance and decoration around the home was needed. A hallway was being painted during the inspection, but it was not clear if there was a decoration plan which included other areas of the home.
One person told us they enjoyed taking part in the activities, and people were enjoying sitting in the garden under a gazebo which had been put up in the rear garden. We spoke to people who remained in their rooms, those who had regular visitors told us they were happy in their rooms. For others, there was limited evidence of staff interaction which was not task based. We observed people in communal areas who did not receive any interaction from staff for long periods of time. Staff did not react promptly when a person sat in the lounge required assistance with their person care and one to one support was not always provided safely.