30 November 2016
During a routine inspection
Ivy House Care Home provides care and accommodation for up to 28 elderly people or people with a dementia type illness. On the day of our inspection there were 11 people using the service.
The service had a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (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.
Ivy House Care Home registered with CQC on 24 April 2015. This was the first inspection of the location.
The home was clean, spacious and suitable for the people who used the service, and appropriate health and safety checks had been carried out. However, some maintenance repairs were not carried out in a timely manner.
Accidents and incidents were appropriately recorded and investigated. Staff had been trained in safeguarding vulnerable adults. Medicines were stored safely and securely, and procedures were in place to ensure people received medicines as prescribed.
Staffing levels were adequate to provide safe care. The registered provider had an effective recruitment and selection procedure in place and carried out relevant checks when they employed staff. Staff were suitably trained and received regular supervisions. The home manager had a training plan in place.
The registered provider was working within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and was following the requirements in the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). However, statutory notifications to CQC had not been submitted for three DoLS applications that had been authorised.
People were protected from the risk of poor nutrition and staff were aware of people’s nutritional needs. Care records contained evidence of visits to and from external health care specialists.
People who used the service and family members were complimentary about the standard of care at Ivy House Care Home. Staff treated people with dignity and respect and helped to maintain people’s independence by encouraging them to care for themselves where possible.
Care records showed that people’s needs were assessed before they started using the service and care plans were written in a person centred way. Care records were regularly reviewed however one person had experienced recent falls and their support plan did not reflect this.
Activities were arranged for people who used the service based on their likes and interests and to help meet their social needs. However, the activities co-ordinator had recently left the service and people were unable to access external activities until a new activities co-ordinator had been recruited.
People who used the service and family members were aware of how to make a complaint however there had been no formal complaints recorded at the service.
Staff felt supported by the management and were comfortable raising any concerns. People who used the service, family members and staff were regularly consulted about the quality of the service. Family members told us the management were approachable and understanding.
We found a breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.