Archived: Newsome Nursing Home

Updated 10 August 2022

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

There were two inspectors and a specialist professional adviser who carried out the inspection.

Service and service type

Newsome Nursing Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service.

At the time of our inspection there was a manager in post, who was in the process of registering with CQC.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced. We visited the service on the 21, 25 April and 17 May 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority partners, including quality monitoring teams who work with the service. We used all this information to plan our inspection. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 7 people who used the service, and 3 relatives, to seek their feedback about the service provided. We spoke with eight members of staff, the manager, quality manager, the cook, domestic and maintenance staff.

We reviewed a range of records. These included the care records for eight people, two staff recruitment files, audits and monitoring systems, and health and safety checks. We also looked at the management and administration of people’s prescribed medicines.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate the evidence found. We had continuous liaison with the local authority partners and the provider in order to gain assurance about ongoing actions being taken to ensure people’s safe care. We reviewed further records relating to the management of the service, including policies, procedures, training data, health and safety and quality assurance records. The evidence review was concluded on 22 June 2022.

Updated 10 August 2022

About the service

Newsome Nursing Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care for up to 46 people, including people living with dementia. At the time of inspection there were 19 people living at the service.

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

Risks in the service to individual people and in general were not always known, robustly assessed, mitigated or managed. There was no one with any oversight of clinical risk when we arrived on the first day of the inspection. Care records had improved but they still did not always contain enough detail to enable staff to support people safely.

Initially, there were insufficient staff; people living with dementia in an adjacent part of the building were without sufficient staff to support them. Staff were not always supported with supervision and role specific training, to ensure they had the knowledge and skills to support people safely. The service had experienced a recent large turnover in the staff team. Staff morale was low and staff were actively leaving the service on the first day of the inspection.

We had urgent discussions with the provider and the local authority and found by day three of the inspection, there were enough care staff and ancillary staff on duty and they were working well together. Staff were better supported and deployed more effectively; there were two staff working in the adjacent part of the building and care was being provided much more safely.

On the first day of the inspection, there was a lack of clear leadership in the service. There was a new manager in post, not yet registered, and the regional manager had recently left without notice. There was no clear clinical leadership or oversight of risks in the service.

We raised concerns with the provider, who took swift action to mitigate the risks identified. The new manager had been in post only a short time at the point of inspection but was getting to know the people and staff very quickly.

People were not routinely using the living areas, and the management team was continuing to consider how this could be improved. There was evidence of work being done to make the environment more homely. The provider had ensured improvements to infection prevention and control procedures. The premises were clean, with regular cleaning taking place.

By day three of the inspection, feedback from staff was overwhelmingly positive and staff morale had significantly improved. They reported feeling well supported and valued, mostly they said because of the new management team being involved and helpful. Staff who had left were back in post with some new enthusiasm. There were identified responsibilities agreed, clear direction and a cohesive management team.

At the last inspection, staff did not always use respectful terminology when speaking with or about people. People were spoken to in respectful ways and the staff used appropriate language.

The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection, some improvements had been made to address the breaches of regulation, but there had been a recent deterioration due to changes to management in the service. The provider responded swiftly to the initial inspection feedback and took steps to address the concerns before the inspection was complete.

Rating at last inspection and update

This service has been in Special Measures since September 2021. During this inspection the provider demonstrated that sufficient improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.

The overall rating for the service has changed from Inadequate to Requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

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.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.