Archived: Elm Bank Care Home

Updated 23 January 2020

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by an inspector, an assistant inspector 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.

Service and service type

Elm Bank is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and from Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During the inspection

We spoke with 10 people who used the service and three relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 10 members of staff including the registered manager, regional manager, senior care workers, care workers, the chef, administrator, activities and maintenance staff.

We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records and multiple medicine records. We looked at staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, were reviewed.

Updated 23 January 2020

About the service

Elm Bank is a residential care home registered for 48 places but has 42 bedrooms, some of which were previously used as shared rooms. At the time of this inspection there were 37 people accommodated, including people who were living with dementia.

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

People and relatives were positive about the care, kindness and friendliness of staff. They said staff were respectful, patient and helped people to maintain their dignity.

People and relatives said this was a safe place to live. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. Staff knew how to report any concerns and said these would be acted upon. The home was clean, warm and comfortable.

People’s needs were assessed to make sure their care could be provided. Some parts of the home were not adapted to support people who were living with dementia. We have made a recommendation about this.

People said the meals were good and there were plenty of choices. Staff worked with other care professionals to support people’s health needs.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff assisted them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service upheld this practice.

People received personalised support that matched their individual preferences. There were enough activities and engagement with the local community to help people’s social inclusion.

People and relatives commented positively on the open culture in the home and the approachability of the registered manager and staff. Staff said that morale had improved and they felt supported.

The provider checked the quality and safety of the service. Overall, the effectiveness of these checks had improved.

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 7 December 2019) and there were two breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.