• Care Home
  • Care home

Northlands Care Home (Northumberland)

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Northlands Nursing Home, 21 Kings Avenue, Morpeth, Northumberland, NE61 1HX (01670) 512485

Provided and run by:
Parkside Care Limited

Important: The provider of this service changed. See old profile
Important: We are carrying out a review of quality at Northlands Care Home (Northumberland). We will publish a report when our review is complete. Find out more about our inspection reports.

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 12 September 2019

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 two inspectors 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

Northlands Care Home (Northumberland) is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as 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 professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the provider, quality assurance manager, registered manager, new manager, deputy manager, nurse, agency nurse, eight care workers including night staff, the administrator, eight people, six relatives and a care manager from the local NHS trust.

We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and records relating to training. We looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the new manager and provider to validate the evidence found. We also spoke with the community matron for nursing homes from the local NHS trust.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 12 September 2019

About the service

Northlands Care Home (Northumberland) provides nursing and personal care for up to 35 older people. There were 29 people living at the home at the time of the inspection, some of whom had a dementia related condition. Accommodation was spread over three floors. People with more advanced dementia care needs lived in ‘Haven’ which was situated on the third floor.

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

At our previous inspection we identified a breach in relation to staffing levels. At this inspection, we found that action had been taken and there were sufficient staff deployed to meet people’s needs.

People said they felt safe and happy living at the home. One person told us, “I am at home now, that’s how I feel.” There were systems and procedures in place to help keep people safe. Medicines were managed safely, however medicines records were not always clear. This was being addressed by the provider.

Checks were carried out to make sure the building and equipment were safe. The environment had been redecorated and refurbished and met people’s needs.

People were supported by staff who were trained to meet their needs. Staff were undertaking additional dementia training to increase their knowledge and understanding in this area.

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.

People had a care plan which guided staff on how to deliver person centred care. People’s social needs were met. There was an activities programme in place.

The service was going through a period of change. The registered manager was leaving after managing the home for a number of years. A new manager had been appointed and was in post on the final day of our inspection.

During our inspection, several staff raised concerns about certain aspects of working at the home which affected the morale of staff. We passed these to the provider, registered manager and new manager for their attention. We have made a recommendation about this. The provider monitored the service and was already in the process of addressing some of the issues we found during the inspection.

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 requires improvement (published 17 August 2018). We identified a breach in the regulation relating to staffing. 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 this regulation.

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.