Archived: Kenton House

People received appropriate care from a staff team most of whom knew their needs well. Health care professionals had been consulted where necessary for further advice and support. Medicines were managed appropriately on people's behalf.

There were sufficient numbers of care and nursing staff employed to meet people's needs although we have advised the provider that they may wish to consider whether the number of hours allocated to cleaning staff is sufficient to maintain good standards of hygiene in all parts of the service. Staff received regular training to support them in their role and further training had been organised at the time of our visit to help to ensure that all necessary staff could assist people with their specific identified medical needs.

There were good systems in place to monitor the quality of the service provided and a number of improvements had been made as a result of these quality assurance processes.

People were supported by staff that had the appropriate skills and experience to meet their needs. But there were not always sufficient numbers of staff to meet the needs of people living in the home, particularly at weekends. This meant that people’s needs were not being met in an appropriate way or at times they would prefer.

In this report the name of a registered manager appears who was not in post and not managing the regulatory activities at this location at the time of the inspection. Their name appears because they were still a Registered Manager on our register at the time of this inspection. We have advised the provider of the action they need to take.

Staff provided support for people to make choices about their day to day life. We observed staff acknowledging the non verbal communication people used when making their choices.

All the staff we spoke with had a clear knowledge of the people living in the home. They told us how people liked to be approached and how they supported people throughout the day. One of the relatives we spoke with said “The home is good at getting health needs sorted out.”

Records did not show whether staff training included the use of emergency rescue treatment or whether staff had been assessed as able to give this treatment correctly. This meant that it was not clear whether support staff had the appropriate training to give this medicine safely.

Staff we spoke with felt there was sufficient staff on duty at all times to provide the care and support that people needed. However, one of the relatives we spoke with said that nursing care and personal care was good but they told us, “Nursing levels aren’t ideal at the moment, it is putting existing nursing staff under stress.”

The provider carried out monthly service reviews. An action plan was produced if any areas for improvement were identified.