About the service: Godfrey Olsen House is a residential care home that was providing personal care to 6 people at the time of the inspection.People’s experience of using this service:
People had not always been kept safe. A fire risk assessment in August 2018 had actions that had not been completed in May 2019 when we inspected. This was in part due to the property being owned by a housing trust who were responsible for maintaining the building, however the responsibility for the safety of the premises was the provider’s therefore this is a breach of the Regulations.
We found that practice around medicines management had not always been safe. Temperatures, storage and audits were not effectively managed. This was a breach of the Regulations.
Oversight of the service and audits were not effective. This was a breach of the Regulations.
Staff told us that staffing levels were not sufficient to provide good care. They had to focus on tasks such as moving and assisting and medicines when lone working, which was a frequent occurrence, and less time sensitive tasks such as cleaning were handed over to the next shift. If the afternoon shift staff were also lone working, then cleaning may not be completed at all. This impacted on people’s experience of care and cleanliness of their home.
Staff told us, and records supported that supervisions or 1-1 meetings had become less frequent. The provider was not meeting their number of supervisions per year as stated in their policy.
People were supported to access healthcare services and support groups relevant to their health conditions. The provider had good working relationships with local commissioners and the health trust.
We saw that keys to each flat had been hung in the entrance area to the home so the flats could be accessed by staff in the event of an emergency. We asked for them to be moved to a more secure location to minimise the risks to people’s security.
People could choose to be involved with developing their care plan if they wished however some people preferred not to be involved.
Staff were kind and caring and we saw interactions that showed people had positive and appropriate relationships with staff members. People enjoyed the company of staff.
People were supported to maintain their independence and to live their lives as they wanted. Staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act and told us they would support people with their decisions, even if these were deemed to be unwise decisions.
Audits were regularly completed however these were not always sufficiently robust. For example, an audit of care plans had found them to be reviewed and current, however we found that not all documents were dated and could not be sure if they had been reviewed.
Godfrey Olsen House met the characteristics of Requires Improvement in most areas. More information is in the full report.
Rating at last inspection: Godfrey Olsen House changed provider in April 2018. Their rating under the previous provider was good; last report published on 20 January 2016.
Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection based on this having been registered under a new provider in April 2018.
Follow up: We have asked the provider to develop an action plan to improve the rating of the service to at least Good. We will continue to monitor the service and will re-inspect as per our schedule for services rated as ‘Requires Improvement’.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk