Parklands Court Care Home

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

This means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture. At our last assessment we rated this key question requires improvement. At this assessment the rating remained requires improvement.

This service scored 61 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities. Staff told us the culture of the service focused on the wellbeing and safety of people living in the home. The manager told us, “I like to learn and improve. We have action plans in place to ensure we make continuous improvements and these are shared with the staffing team.” There were processes in place to ensure there was a positive culture in the home. This included ensuring the wellbeing of staff and ensuring staff had received training that gave them the skills and knowledge to promote a positive culture.

Leaders did not always have the skills, knowledge, experience to lead effectively. The service had been rated requires improvement at the previous 6 inspections and at this inspection, we found the required improvements had not been made to ensure people consistently received safe care. This meant leaders had not taken effective action to improve the standard of care.

However, people, relatives and staff told us they felt the manager was approachable and supportive. One person told us, “I know who the manager is, and she is approachable.”

A relative told us, “The manager is very proactive.” A member of staff told us, “The manager is very supportive and is a very good manager.” Statutory notifications were raised with us in accordance with the provider’s duties and responsibilities.

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. Staff told us they felt confident to speak up against any poor practice or raise concerns. One staff member said, “My manager is transparent and approachable, we have daily meetings to discuss concerns and lessons learned, this gives us chance to raise concerns openly and confidently without any repercussions.” The manager told us, “We share ideas and have an open-door policy and a no blame culture. We share information in staff meetings or supervisions.” A whistle-blowing policy was in place and staff told us how they would access it.

The provider valued diversity in the workforce. Staff told us they were treated fairly by the provider. Staff told us there were opportunities for further development and when they experienced personal issues which impacted upon their working ability, the provider was supportive and made allowances. One staff member told us, “I have no concerns regarding how I am treated at work. I have worked here for 23 years.”

Minutes of team meetings and supervisions evidenced staff were invited to feedback about the service. The provider had an equality, diversity and inclusion policy in place to ensure that all individuals are treated fairly and with respect, regardless of their background or characteristics, and to prevent discrimination and promote inclusion. Staff received equality and diversity training.

The provider did not have effective systems in place to support good governance. At our last inspection the provider failed to operate effective systems and processes to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service. This was a breach of the legal regulation in relation to governance. At this inspection, we found effective governance systems were still not in place to ensure care was consistently provided in a safe manner. For example, the provider’s governance systems had not identified the repeated concerns we found in relation to medicines and missing mattress settings. Governance systems had also not identified that some care plans contained inaccurate or conflicting information. This meant the provider remained in breach of the regulation relating to governance. However, the manager was open and receptive to our feedback and made some immediate changes in response to this. We will check these changes have been effective at our next assessment.

The provider understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership. They shared information and sought advice when needed. Staff told us they worked with other professionals, and visiting professionals confirmed this. A visiting professional said, “The service regularly utilises other professionals and follows advice from tissue viability nurses, speech and language therapists, dieticians, case managers, GPs.” Records confirmed the provider worked in partnership with other professionals and raised referrals promptly. For example, the staff reported safeguarding incidents and other concerns to the local authority and followed their recommendations.

The provider did not always focus on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They did not always actively contribute to safe and effective practice. Effective action had not been taken to address safety concerns and the regulatory breach identified at our last inspection and the service has remained as requires improvement for the seventh consecutive inspection. However, staff told us lessons were learnt from incidents and accidents, and these were shared during handovers and team meetings. A staff member told us, “When things go wrong, we reflect and learn as a team.” The manager shared future improvement plans with us. These plans included dementia workshops to upskill the understanding and practices of the staff team when supporting people with dementia. We will check on the implementation of these plans at our next assessment.