Aberdeen House

Aberdeen House is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to 12 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 18 people.

Aberdeen House accommodates people in one building. People have access to a communal lounge, conservatory and garden space. There is not a separate dining room, but people are able to use tables in a visitor's room or the conservatory if they wish to.

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

Improvements had been made to the service’s infection prevention and control procedures. Assurances were provided staff were consistently putting on and taking off personal protective equipment (PPE) in accordance with government guidance.

Cleaning schedules for high touch areas had been implemented and were being regularly completed.

People were receiving medicines safely. Relevant guidance was in place and being used by staff to ensure medicines were administered in accordance with how they were prescribed.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection (and update)

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 25 March 2021).

At this inspection enough improvement had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulation 12.

Why we inspected

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

We undertook this targeted inspection to check whether the warning notice we previously served in relation to Regulation 12 (safe care and treatment) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 had been met on concerns about the use and disposal of PPE, cleaning and medicine administration. The overall rating for the service has not changed following this targeted inspection and remains requires improvement.

CQC have introduced targeted inspections to follow up on warning notices or to check specific concerns. They do not look at an entire key question, only the part of the key question we are specifically concerned about. Targeted inspections do not change the rating from the previous inspection. This is because they do not assess all areas of a key question.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Aberdeen House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

Aberdeen House is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to 12 people aged over 65 at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 18 people.

Aberdeen House accommodates people in one building. People have access to a communal lounge, conservatory and garden space. There is not a separate dining room, but people are able to use tables in a visitor’s room or the conservatory if they wish to.

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

Staff were not always following government guidance and the service’s procedures and policies around safely using personal protective equipment (PPE) upon entering and exiting the building. The service failed to ensure cleaning schedules of shared moving and handling equipment, and high touch point areas were in place and cleaned regularly. This meant there was a risk people and staff could be exposed to and transmit COVID-19.

People did not always receive their prescribed medicines safely and processes around the safe storage and administration of medicines were not always followed.

People’s care needs and risks were assessed, but staff did not always follow care plans to keep people safe.

Relatives told us they felt their family members were safe and cared for. However, while quality assurance audits and governance measures were in place, they were not sufficiently robust at identifying safety concerns that needed to be addressed. This meant opportunities to improve the service and the quality of care people received were sometimes missed.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection (and update)

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published June 2019) and the provider was in breach of regulation 18: Staffing and regulation 17: Good Governance of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

Following the last inspection, the provider was asked to complete an action plan to CQC telling us what they would do and by when to improve. However, they did not submit an action plan to CQC.

At this inspection we found the provider was no longer in breach of regulation 18 but still in breach of regulation 17 as not enough improvement has been made.

We found at this inspection the provider was in breach of regulation 12: Safe care and treatment of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and regulation 15: Premises and equipment of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

Why we inspected

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 the coronavirus pandemic and other infection outbreaks effectively.

We had received concerns in relation to staff not using PPE safely in line with government guidance. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. 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.

Follow up

We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

People’s experience of using this service:

¿The provider had not deployed enough staff at night to keep people and their employees safe. Although managers recognised this, the provider told us there were no plans to change the current staffing levels.

¿The management of working patterns for staff was arranged in cultural way. Some staff worked particular shifts with no management oversight over 24hr period.

¿There had been an increased number of falls. Audits were shown to be ineffective as no action had been taken to identify patterns. This placed people at continued risk of falls and serious injury.

¿The registered manager did not always inform organisations of accidents and incidents as required to.

¿People’s incidents were not consistently communicated to relatives.

¿People’s safety needs had been assessed. However, people with higher personal needs had recently been admitted but staffing levels had not been reviewed or increased.

¿People received support from staff who had appropriate employment checks in place. Staff received comprehensive training to meet people’s needs.

¿People received their prescribed medicines to protect their health.

¿The home was clean and tidy protecting people from the risk of infection. However, the environment and deployment of staff at night placed people at risk if evacuation needed to take place.

¿People’s confidential information was not protected as it was not securely stored.

¿Staff received regular supervision though team meetings were not regularly held. Some staff reported tensions in the team. This issue had not been addressed by the registered manager.

Rating at last inspection: Good (Report published 9 January 2018)

Why we inspected: The inspection was brought forward due to information we received of concerns at the home.

We did not inspect the key questions, effective, caring and responsive as information we received did not raise any risks or concerns in these areas.

We found two breaches of regulations. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.

Follow up: Going forward we will continue to monitor this service and plan to inspect in line with our re-inspection schedule for those services rates requires improvement.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

At the last inspection in May 2015, the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found that the service remained good.

The systems adopted by the provider to oversee and improve the quality of care people received required strengthening.

People could be assured that they would be supported by sufficient numbers of staff who had been subject to appropriate recruitment processes. Risks to people had been assessed and were reduced through the plans of care that staff followed when providing people’s care. People could be assured that they would receive their prescribed medicines safely and that staff would take action to protect them from harm. The home was clean and people were protected from the risk of infection through the procedures adopted by the provider.

Staff received the support and supervision that they needed to work effectively in the home. People’s needs were assessed prior to moving into the home to ensure that the service was able to meet their individual needs. People were supported to maintain a healthy and nutritious diet.

People are supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff support them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice. We have made a recommendation in the main body of the report related to the provider’s use of the mental capacity act.

Staff knew people well and consistently treated people with dignity and respect. People were involved in planning their care and support and people’s care was provided in line with their individual preferences.

People had detailed plans of care in place to guide staff in providing consistently personalised care and support. People could be assured that their feedback and complaints would be taken seriously and managed appropriately.

People were supported by a team of staff that had the day to day managerial guidance and support they needed to carry out their roles. The registered manager was visible throughout the home. People and staff felt confident in approaching the registered manager.

People who used the service expressed that they were grateful for the support they had. They did not express that they had any higher expectations of the service. When we spoke with people about how they spent their time they told us that they found things to do that occupied them. We saw some people reading newspapers and magazines, doing puzzles, walking around and relaxing in the garden. People who were physically inactive had only very limited social or stimulating interaction with care workers. We found that was because the home's activities co-ordinator was on leave and there were not enough staff on duty to provide anything other than personal care or assistance with eating.