11 February 2016
During a routine inspection
Elizabeth Welsh House is a purpose built care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to 40 older people. It is situated on the outskirts of Carlisle with a direct bus link into the city.
The bedrooms are for single occupancy and there is plenty of communal space for residents to enjoy. The home has three units each of which has bedrooms and a lounge with a dining area. There are toilet and bathing facilities in all parts of the home and a lift to access the upper floor.
The service had a registered manager in post. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
People who lived in Elizabeth Welsh House told us they felt safe living in the home. Relatives told us they were very satisfied with the safety of their family members. Relatives also said they were pleased with the support and caring attitude of all the staff.
People were protected by staff who knew how to keep them safe and managed individual risks well. Staffing levels were appropriate during the day and the service now employed three members of night staff that were currently necessary to meet the needs of those using the service and to promote their independence. Staff were aware of their responsibilities in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.
We spent time with people in all areas of the home. We saw that the staff offered people assistance and took the time to speak to people and take up the opportunities they had to interact with them and offer reassurance if needed. We saw that the staff approached people in a friendly and respectful way and people we spoke to who lived there told us that it was a “comfortable” place to live to live in.
The registered manager provided details of the staff training that evidenced staff training was up to date although some updates were being planned to ensure all the staff were completely up to date and able to provide the correct level of care and support. Staff confirmed they received training appropriate to their roles within the staff team.
People had access to external health care services which ensured their health care needs were met. Staff had completed training in safe handling of medicines and the medicines administration records were now up to date following a medicines inspection in August of last year.
People were provided with sufficient food and drink in order to maintain good levels of nutrition and hydration. Drinks were available throughout the day. People told us “We have a choice of meals and if there is anything we don’t like we can ask for something else”. Only one person was less than happy with their meals and we did discuss this with the registered manager.
Medicines were being safely, administered and stored and we saw that accurate records were being kept of medicines received and disposed of so all of them could be accounted for.
We saw evidence that staff recruitment and selection was robust and guaranteed only suitable people were employed to care for and support people using this service.
There was an appropriate internal quality audit system in place to monitor the quality of the service provided.
People knew how they could complain about the service they received and information about this was displayed in the foyer area of the home. People we spoke to were confident that action would be taken in response to any concerns they raised. People told us they felt comfortable giving their views about the service and what they wanted in their home. Relatives told us that if they had cause to complain about anything, and that was rare, the matter was dealt with as soon as possible.