Oaklands (Essex)

Updated 24 August 2021

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.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was completed by one inspector.

Service and service type

Oaklands [Essex] 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 did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that the provider is legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. The manager confirmed an application to be formally registered with the Care Quality Commission has been completed but not yet submitted to us.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the 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 reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the Local Authority. We used all of this information to plan our inspection. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with five members of staff, including housekeeping staff. Additionally, we spoke with the manager, deputy manager and the service's Area Director. We reviewed a range of records, including three people's care records and two staff personnel files. We also looked at the provider’s quality assurance and auditing arrangements.

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.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We reviewed information provided to us by the manager and Area Director at the time of our inspection. We contacted and received information from four people’s relatives about the quality of care received for their family member.

Updated 24 August 2021

About the service

Oaklands [Essex] is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care for up to 55 older people aged 65 and over; and people living with dementia. At the time of the inspection, 15 people were living at the service. The care home accommodates people in one adapted building.

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

People told us they were safe and liked living at Oaklands [Essex]. Observations demonstrated staff had a good relationship and rapport with the people they supported. Staff had a good understanding and knowledge of people’s needs and the care to be delivered. People told us they were safe and suitable arrangements were in place to protect people from harm and abuse. Risks were identified and recorded to ensure peoples safety and wellbeing. Recruitment practices were robust to ensure the right staff were recruited. People were protected by the services prevention and control of infection practices and from the risk of transmission of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. The environment was clean and well maintained. Lessons were learned and improvements made when things went wrong.

Effective systems were in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided through a range of internal checks and audits. Relatives and staff told us the service was well-led and managed and were positive about the improvements made since our last inspection to the service in December 2020. Staff felt valued and supported.

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 Inadequate [published March 2021] and there were two breaches of regulation. A Warning Notice was served and conditions were imposed on the providers registration.

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 these regulations. However, we could not improve the rating for 'Well-Led' because to do this requires consistent good practice over time. We will check this during our next inspection.

This service has been in Special Measures since December 2020. During this inspection the provider demonstrated improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection. We checked whether the provider had met the requirements of the Warning Notice in relation to Regulation 12 [Safe care and treatment] of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and conditions imposed on the provider's registration.

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.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from Inadequate to Requires Improvement. 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 Oaklands (Essex) 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.