• Care Home
  • Care home

Archived: Kings Court Care Centre

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

Kent Road, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN1 3NP (01793) 715480

Provided and run by:
Life Style Care (2011) plc

Important: The provider of this service changed. See new profile
Important: The provider of this service changed. See old profile

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Background to this inspection

Updated 22 September 2015

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 31 July 2015. This was an unannounced inspection. The inspection team consisted of three inspectors, a specialist advisor in nursing care and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Before the visit we looked at previous inspection reports and notifications we had received. Services tell us about important events relating to the care they provide using a notification. This enabled us to ensure we were addressing potential areas of concern. We spoke with local authority safeguarding and contracts teams.

We spoke with 11 of the 38 people who were living at Kings Court Care Home. We also spoke to six people's relatives and visitors. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a specific way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We spoke with two registered nurses, five care workers, an activity co-ordinator, the deputy manager, a regional manager and two support staff employed by the provider. We looked around the home and observed the way staff interacted with people.

We looked at 10 people's care records, and at a range of records about how the home was managed. We reviewed feedback from people who had used the service and their relatives.

Overall inspection

Requires improvement

Updated 22 September 2015

We inspected Kings Court Care Centre on the 31 July 2015. Kings Court provides residential and nursing care for older people over the age of 65, some of the people living at the home were living with dementia. The home offers a service for up to 60 people. At the time of our visit 38 people were using the service. This was an unannounced inspection.

We last inspected in September 2014 and found the provider Was meeting all of the requirements of the regulations at that time.

There was not a registered manager in post on the day of our inspection. The last registered manager left in May 2015. The service were in the process of recruiting a new manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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 were task focused and did not always involve people or respect their preferences. Staff did not always know the people they cared for. People's preferences were not recorded in their care plans and contained limited information on people's lives and interests.

People told us there was not always things to do and that life in the home could be boring. Some people went long periods of time without any contact with care staff. There was an activity co-ordinator, however not all activities provided by the activity co-ordinator and staff were structured to meet people's needs.

People did not always receive their medicines as prescribed. Where people were prescribed as required medicine, such as pain relief medicine, they did not always receive this medicine. Staff did not always keep an accurate record of when they had assisted people with their medicines.

Staff protected people from the risks associated with their care. However, one person was at risk of pressure damage and staff were not always ensuring this person's needs were being met.

There were enough staff deployed by the provider to meet people's needs. However, staff did not always receive the training and support they needed to meet people's needs. Staff did not always have clear leadership to ensure people received personalised care daily.

The provider was aware of a range of concerns at the home, however action had not always been taken to address these concerns. Not all staff felt supported and staff lacked direction from management and senior staff. There was not a caring, open or transparent culture in the home and staff were not aware of the providers culture, aims or goals.

People told us they felt safe in the home, staff had a good understanding of safeguarding and the service took appropriate action to deal with any concerns or allegations of abuse.

People and their relatives told us their complaints were acted on by the management team. Relatives felt staff were approachable.

People had access to appropriate food and drink and were supported to access external healthcare services.

We found four breaches 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 this report.