Springfield Park Nursing Home

Springfield Park Nursing Home is a care home providing personal and nursing care for a maximum of 70 people in one adapted building. There were 44 people receiving care and support at the time of the inspection.

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

People told us they did not always receive a prompt response from staff when requesting support using their call bells. People and their relatives told us staff were often busy due to the high level of need of care. We have made recommendations for the service about this below.

The recruitment of staff was robust and staff received appropriate training. People had their needs assessed and risk assessments were in place. The service completed regular checks of daily records to identify any changes in need or action required.

People told us medicines were administered safely and staff had received relevant medicines training. Safeguarding procedures, policies and staff training were in place to protect people from abuse.

Most people told us the management team were approachable and would address concerns. The home did not have a registered manager in place at the time of inspection and was in the process of recruiting a new registered manager.

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 30 January 2020) and there were multiple breaches of regulation. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to staffing. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Springfield Park Nursing Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.

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

The administration of medicines was not always safe. Safeguarding policies, procedures and staff training helped protect people from abuse. All necessary checks on staff and the environment were undertaken to keep people safe. Risk assessments helped protect the health and welfare of people who used the service.

People were supported to live healthy lives because they had access to professionals, a well-trained staff team and a choice of a nutritious diet. The service worked with other organisations to provide effective and consistent care. 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 were treated as individuals which helped protect their dignity. Staff were trained in equality and diversity. People’s equality and diversity was respected by a caring staff team and where they wanted they were supported to continue with their religious needs.

We saw that the service responded to the needs of people by providing meaningful activities, having regularly reviewed plans of care and any concerns acted upon. Staff training enabled them to care for people at the end of their lives.

The home and deputy manager were developing auditing systems to improve the service. However, they had not picked up some auditing errors. The registered manager led and attended meetings to discuss best practice topics with other organisations to improve the service. People who used the service and staff said managers were available and approachable. People who used the service and relatives were able to air their views about how the service was run.

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 (report published 15 July 2019). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection enough improvement had not been made and the provider was still in breach of regulations.

This service has been in Special Measures since 15 July 2019. During this inspection the provider demonstrated that some 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 was a planned inspection based on the previous rating and to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from inadequate to requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection. We found evidence the provider needs to make further improvement. Please see the safe and well-led domains of this full report. The provider took action to mitigate the risks found.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Springfield Park Nursing Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to Regulation 12(2)(g) The proper and safe management of medicines because the administration of medicines was not always safe and Regulation 17 (1)(2)(a)(b) Good Governance for ineffective audits at this inspection. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

People’s experience of using this service:

Our inspection identified a number of areas of concern in the home. Moving and handling was not always safe, and assessment and management of risks was not always robust. Staffing levels were not well managed, and we found staff did not always know what people’s needs were or how to support them safely. There was a good level of staff training in place, however our observations showed this was not always followed. Staff were recruited safely and had regular support from senior staff and management.

People were not always supported appropriately when they lacked capacity to make decision, and consent for some aspects of care and support was not always sought robustly. Information about this aspect of people’s care and support was not well organised. People’s privacy and dignity were not always maintained.

Records relating to people’s nutritional health were not always well maintained, and there was a lack of robust information about how to thicken fluids when this was required. People who required a diet adapted to their faith or cultural background received this. The provider produced information in adapted formats to help people access it independently.

People did not always have control over their daily lives and routine, and there was a lack of stimulus in the upstairs unit. People knew how to make complaints, however we saw the provider’s policy was not always followed and people did not always receive a written response when they had raised concerns. There had been some good support put in place when people had died, but care plans lacked information about people’s wishes and preferences for this aspect of their care.

Although there were systems in place to monitor quality in the home, they were not sufficiently robust, and had failed to identify areas in which regulations had been breached.

Rating at last inspection: This was our first inspection since its change of provider.

Why we inspected: We carried out this inspection in line with our current inspection planning methodology.

Enforcement: We have identified breaches in relation to the safety of care and treatment, regard for people’s dignity, support for people who may lack capacity to make certain decisions, staffing levels and the overall governance of the service at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Special Measures:

The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures’. This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider’s registration, we will re-inspect within 6 months to check for significant improvements.

If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe and there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions the registration.

For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months. If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect it. And it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions it will no longer be in special measures.

Follow up: We will re-inspect the service inline with our current inspection planning methodology. We may return sooner if we become aware of increased risk to people who use the service.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk