The Care Quality Commission
  • Care Home
  • Care home

Amarna House Care Home

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Rosetta Way, Boroughbridge Road, York, North Yorkshire, YO26 5RN (01904) 798509

Provided and run by:
Avery Homes (Nelson) Limited

All Inspections

6 September 2018

During a routine inspection

Amarna House Care Home is registered to provide residential and nursing care for up to 80 older people and younger adults who may be living with dementia, a physical disability of sensory impairment. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. The home is situated in the Acomb district of York . The home is split in to four units over two floors. People who required nursing and residential care were supported on the ground floor and on the first-floor people living with a dementia related illness were supported in two separate areas.

This inspection took place on 6 and 7 September 2018. The first day was unannounced and the second day announced to ensure the registered manager was available to speak with us.

At our last inspection we rated the service ‘good’. At this inspection, the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

The service had a registered manager who had been in post since January 2018. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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.

Staff understood their responsibility to protect vulnerable adults from abuse and poor practice. Staff ensured documentation was reviewed to continuously meet the needs of people living at the service

People were kept safe by staff who were trained to monitor and risk assess the safety of equipment and utilities. There were communal areas for people to interact or sit quietly, which were clean, tidy and welcoming.

People’s bedrooms were personalised and staff were clear about the importance of paying attention to people's well-being, privacy, and independence.

The service provided safe staffing levels, and care workers received consistent supervision and training.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control over their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The staff provided a good standard of care to the people who lived there. They were aware of people's needs and treated them with dignity and respect. Staff listened to people and acted accordingly when asked for assistance.

People who used the service told us staff were caring. We observed meaningful interactions between staff and people throughout the inspection; feedback from people and their relatives was positive.

Care plans were person- centred and contained detailed information about people’s support needs.

A variety of activities were available every day and people who lived at the service were involved in the planning of these activities .

The registered manager worked in partnership with external health and social care professionals to ensure people's health and social care needs were met. Quality assurance processes were in place to monitor the quality of care delivered.

Further information is in the detailed finding below.

14 October 2015

During a routine inspection

Amarna House is a purpose built care home that provides residential and nursing care for up to 80 older people. The home is divided into four units, each supporting up to 20 people, and is spread across two floors. On the ground floor, the Evergreen Unit provided residential care and the Autumn Unit provided nursing care. The first floor had two “memory care” units, which specialised in supporting people with dementia. These were called the Laurel Unit and the Willow Unit. The Willow Unit supported people with dementia or challenging behaviour who also had nursing needs.

We inspected this service on the 14 October 2015. This inspection was unannounced. At the time of our inspection there were 77 people using this service.

The service was registered under a new provider, Avery Homes (Nelson) Limited, in November 2014. This was the first inspection of this location following registration under the new provider.

The registered provider is required to have a registered manager in post and on the day of the inspection there was a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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.

During this inspection we found that the service was safe. People’s needs were assessed and comprehensive risk assessments put in place to reduce the risk of avoidable harm. Where there were safeguarding concerns, these had been appropriately identified and acted upon.

We received some negative comments about staffing levels and identified that staffing levels did fluctuate. However, we saw that staffing levels did not fall below the level deemed necessary to meet the needs of the people using the service and saw that the registered manager was recruiting new staff to enable them to provide a higher staffing level.

The service had an effective recruitment and induction process and provided on-going training to equip staff with the skills and knowledge needed for their roles. People were supported to eat and drink enough and, where necessary, were supported to access healthcare services. We saw that advice and guidance from healthcare professionals was incorporated into people's care plans. This ensured that staff provided effective care and support based on up-to-date knowledge on best practice. People were supported to make decisions and their rights were protected in line with relevant legislation and guidance.

People using the service were positive about the caring attitudes of staff. We observed that staff were kind, caring and attentive to people’s needs. Staff encouraged people to make decisions and have choice and control over daily routines. People’s privacy and dignity was respected.

We saw that there were systems in place to assess and record people’s needs so that staff could provide personalised care and support. Care plans were updated regularly and information shared so that staff were aware of people's changing needs.

People told us they felt able to make comments, complaints or raise concerns and we could see that feedback about the service was used to make changes and improvements.

The service was well-led. The registered manager was proactive in monitoring the quality of care and support provided and in driving improvements within the service. We observed that records were well maintained. There was clear organisation and leadership with good communication between the registered manager and staff on each unit.