Jack Dormand Care Home

Jack Dormand Care Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care for up to 43 people. The service provides support to older people and younger adults, including those living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 41 people using the service.

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

Staff excelled at providing care and support which was extremely person-centred and responsive to people’s needs. Staff were passionate about their roles and dedicated to improving people’s quality of life.

Feedback from people and relatives was excellent. Comments included, “It is without a doubt an outstanding care home with outstanding staff,” “The whole team deserve recognition and thanks. Each and every one of you pull together to make a fabulous team,” and “What a fabulous care home. I have never met a more friendly and helpful set of staff.”

People benefitted from an excellent variety of activities, events and trips out that were organised to help reduce social isolation and enhance their health and wellbeing. Activities were tailored towards people's likes and preferences, which gave significant meaning and purpose. The wellbeing team were continually searching for new opportunities and experiences to support people to be active members of their local community. There were extremely strong links with the local community, which people valued.

Staff truly enriched people's lives by helping people to fulfil wishes and aspirations no matter how big or small. There was a warm and homely environment and people's friends and relatives were welcomed warmly at birthday celebrations and various organised events. This helped people maintain relationships important to them and enabled relatives to get to know staff better. One relative said, “I absolutely love visiting as I am always welcomed with a friendly smile and greeting by all the staff. It feels like a home from home to me and I feel like I am part of ‘the family.’”

People received extremely compassionate and dignified care at the end of their lives. Staff had an excellent understanding of how to meet the needs of people and their families. This was particularly in relation to emotional support and the practical assistance, which they needed at such a difficult time. The staff team were recognised for their excellence in end of life care when they received palliative carer of the year award at The Northern Echo Health and Care Awards 2022.

The home was exceptionally well-led with a strong focus on providing person-centred care. The values and behaviours of the management team set out clear expectations of what was required from staff. People and relatives were extremely positive about the management team. Staff were very proud of what they as a team had achieved in terms of national awards and recognition. The service had previously been shortlisted as a finalist in the dignity and respect category, and the registered manager had been shortlisted as a finalist for the care home manager category at the National Care Awards. Staff described an inclusive, open and supportive working environment.

Staff understood how to safeguard people and when to raise concerns. People received their medicines safely. Risks associated with people's care were regularly assessed and monitored. Staff followed infection prevention and control guidance to minimise risks related to the spread of infection. Recruitment practices were safe.

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

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was outstanding (published 20 March 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

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 COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, responsive and well-led only.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last ratings inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service remains outstanding. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Jack Dormand care home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

We found the following examples of good practice:

• Systems were in place to prevent people, staff and visitors from catching and spreading infections. The home supported people and staff as far as possible with social distancing.

• There was a clear process for visitors, which included a risk assessment, temperature check and the wearing of PPE. At the time of the inspection national guidance was being followed which meant that due to current local restrictions, only essential health and compliance visits could take place. When visits were to recommence, plans were in place to safely manage these in accordance with national guidance.

• Staff had undertaken training in putting on and taking off personal protective equipment (PPE), hand hygiene and other Covid-19 related training. Nominated staff had received additional training to be infection control leads. Staff practices were monitored to ensure high standards and correct procedures were followed. Additional cleaning of all areas and frequent touch surfaces was being carried out. Suitable supplies of PPE were available and contingency plans were in place.

• Staff supported people's social and emotional wellbeing. People and their relatives were supported to keep in contact using a range of technology and regular newsletters.

• The home was following national guidance for anyone moving in. Staff worked with people and their relatives to ensure they were aware of self-isolation procedures. People were supported to understand the pandemic and the need for IPC measures.

• Infection control audits and checks were carried out. The registered manager spoke positively about the hard work, dedication and team spirit which staff had shown, which had helped to minimise the impact of the pandemic on people's health and wellbeing.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

Jack Dormand Care Home 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.

Jack Dormand Care Home accommodates 43 people in one adapted building across two floors. On the day of our inspection there were 43 people using the service. Some of the people had nursing care needs and some people were living with a dementia type illness.

The service had a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the service. Like 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.

We last inspected the service in October 2015 and rated the service as ‘Good.’ At this inspection we found the service had improved to ‘Outstanding’ and met all the fundamental standards we inspected against.

Without exception, people who used the service and family members told us staff were caring. We observed and heard many examples of the caring and fun nature of staff and saw how staff had gone the “extra mile” to provide outstanding care.

The registered manager had identified innovative ways of improving the social and communication skills of a person with social anxiety disorder. Staff had identified people with communication needs or who required additional social stimulation. They took the time to visit people in their rooms and engage in activities or conversations of the person’s choice.

Staff were sensitive to times when people needed caring and compassionate support, and anticipated people’s needs and recognised distress and discomfort at the earliest stage.

Staff helped people express their views and people’s preferences were clearly documented in their care records. Staff treated people with dignity and respect and helped to maintain people’s independence by encouraging them to care for themselves where possible.

The service was extremely person-centred. Person-centred means the person was at the centre of any care or support plans and their individual wishes, needs and choices were taken into account. People received personalised care that was responsive to their needs.

One of the nurses at the home was the provider’s current nurse of the year and had been put forward for the National Care Awards, where they won the national nurse of the year award. This was in recognition of the nurse’s “outstanding clinical and managerial qualities” and “high level of dedication”.

The provider had innovative ways of protecting people from social isolation, and went the extra mile for people they supported and to find out about their past.

The service provided outstanding end of life care to ensure people’s end of life was as comfortable, dignified and pain free as possible.

People and family members were an integral part of the service and the provider had innovative ways of involving them. For example, in making improvements to the home.

The registered manager continually strived to develop their knowledge and skills, and shared this learning with staff to ensure continuous improvement across the staff team.

The registered manager worked in partnership with external professionals to develop and improve outcomes for people who used the service, and the service had excellent links with the local community.

The service had a positive culture that was very person-centred and inclusive. Staff were visibly proud to work at the home. Awards were presented to staff to recognise and celebrate the efforts they had made and the impact they had upon the lives of people, their families and other staff.

Governance was well embedded in the service and systems were in place that continuously assessed and monitored the quality of the service. People, family members and visitors were provided with several ways of feeding back on the quality of the service.

The home was clean, spacious and suitable for the people who used the service, and appropriate health and safety checks had been carried out.

There were sufficient numbers of staff on duty in order to meet the needs of people who used the service. The provider had an effective recruitment and selection procedure in place and carried out relevant vetting checks when they employed staff. Staff were suitably trained and received regular supervisions and appraisals.

Accidents and incidents were appropriately recorded and risk assessments were in place. The registered manager understood their responsibilities with regard to safeguarding and staff had been trained in safeguarding vulnerable adults.

Appropriate arrangements were in place for the safe administration and storage of medicines.

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

Care records showed that people’s needs were assessed before they started using the service. People were protected from the risk of poor nutrition and staff were aware of people’s nutritional needs. Care records contained evidence of people being supported during visits to and from external health care specialists.

The provider had an effective complaints process in place, and people and family members were aware of how to make a complaint.

We found the provider had made suitable arrangements to manage peoples' medicines safely. A visitor told us, 'They make sure people take their medicines.'

The provider had not taken steps to make sure people at the home were protected from staff who were unsuitable to work with vulnerable people. This was because they had not always completed thorough background checks of staff supplied by nurses agencies.

We found the provider had an effective system in place to identify, assess and manage risks to the health, safety and welfare of people using the service and promote their health and wellbeing.

We also found the provider had taken steps to listen to and act upon peoples complaints.

Overall we found significant improvements had been made since we last visited in April 2012.