During an assessment under our new approach
Date of Assessment: 29 April to 15 May 2025. Summerhill Care Home is a care home with nursing providing care for up to 71 people some of whom may be living with dementia. At the time of this assessment there were 63 people living there.
We undertook this assessment following information received about how the provider managed people’s health needs and about staffing.
We assessed the quality statements from the key questions of safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.
We found two breaches of the legal regulations in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance.
The provider did not make sure that medicines and treatments were safe and met people’s needs, capacities and preferences.
Improvements were required to care plans and risk assessments to ensure they included all of people’s health needs and risks and guided staff how to recognise concerns and to escalate when required.
Clinical records did not always include all required information. Processes for recording of thickeners were not yet consistently embedded and where staff were required to record people’s oral care, this was not done consistently.
The provider’s governance processes were not always effective at identifying issues with medicines, care plans, clinical records and monitoring of people’s needs and risks.
We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.
There was a culture of openness when looking for lessons that could be learned from accidents or incidents. Staff were aware of their safeguarding responsibilities. There were enough staff with the right skills, qualifications and experience. The home was clean and well maintained.
The provider worked well across teams and services to support people to manage their health and wellbeing. Staff and those important to people took decisions in people’s best interests where they did not have capacity.
People were treated as individuals and with kindness and compassion. People had choice in their care and were encouraged to maintain their independence. Staff responded to people in a timely way. The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled them to always deliver person-centred care.
Staff knew people really well and involved them in their care. People’s individual communication methods were identified and respected. People and their relatives were able to give feedback on care which the provider listened to and acted on. The service contacted emergency services when required and knew when to involve specialist services in people’s care. There was a system in place for responding to concerns or complaints. People’s end-of-life wishes were respected and reflected in their care records.
The management team led the service with integrity, openness and honesty and valued diversity in their workforce. Staff understood about equality and diversity and wanted to provide compassionate care. Staff were able to report concerns in one-to-one meetings and the registered manager had an open-door policy. The provider and registered manager worked together with a focus on delivering good care and improving systems.