Background to this inspection
Updated
20 March 2015
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the registered provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
This inspection was carried out on 10 and 11 November 2014 and was unannounced.
The inspection was led by an adult social care inspector who was accompanied by a specialist professional advisor. The specialist professional advisor had experience of the care needs of people living with dementia.
Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We also spoke with the local commissioning team for information and a social worker who worked with the registered service.
We observed how staff interacted with people who used the service. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We spoke with nine people who lived at the home, five relatives, two nurses, eight care workers and four visiting professionals.
We looked at seven care files which belonged to people who used the service including medication administration records (MARs) and risk assessments. We also looked at three Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) authorisations that were in place at the time of the inspection. DoLS ensure people who are not able to consent to care and support are not unlawfully restricted of their freedom or liberty.
During the inspection we looked at a range of documentation relating to the management and running of the service. Including audits, maintenance records, meeting minutes, staff files including recruitment information, training records and staff rotas.
Updated
20 March 2015
This unannounced inspection was carried out on 10 and 11 November 2014. The last inspection was completed on 3 December 2013; the service was compliant with all of the regulations that were inspected.
Alexandra court is registered to provide care, including nursing care, and accommodation for up to 84 older people who may have a dementia related condition. It has three floors that are connected by a passenger lift. It is close to local amenities and has good access to public transport.
A registered manager had been in place since the home opened in December 2012. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
People who lived at the home were safe. Care workers had been trained to recognise the signs of potential abuse and knew what actions to take if they suspected abuse had occurred.
People had their health and social care need’s met my sufficient numbers of appropriately trained staff. Training was completed on an annual basis to ensure staff worked in line with best practice guidance. We saw evidence to confirm that staff had been recruited safely.
Care workers were supported effectively by the registered manager. One to one meetings were held periodically and handover meetings took place daily to ensure staff were aware of their responsibilities.
We observed care workers gaining people’s consent before care and treatment was provided. When people lacked the capacity to make informed decisions themselves, best interest meetings were held appropriately.
Care workers we spoke with could describe people’s care needs and how they preferred to be supported. We saw evidence that other healthcare professionals were contacted as required when people’s health deteriorated including GPs, speech and language therapists, Huntingdon’s disease nurses, social workers and the falls team.
Resident and relative meetings were held regularly and used as a forum for people to raise concerns, ask questions or make suggestions about the overall running of the service. When suggestions were made they were implemented by the registered manager.
An audit schedule was in place that helped drive the continuous improvement of the service. The registered manager took appropriate action when issues were highlighted through audits, ‘customer satisfaction’ surveys and complaints.