Thomas Fields Care Centre

Thomas Fields Care Centre is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to 16 people at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 20 people. The service is located within a sheltered accommodation building which is owned and managed by a housing association so run separately from the care home.

There are 20 en-suite bedrooms located over two floors. There is a dining room, activity room and a smaller meeting room on each floor. There are adapted bathrooms and kitchens on both floors. People can receive care on a long- or short-term basis, some people stay for a short time to receive community support.

The service is registered to care for older people, people living with dementia, physical disability, sensory impairment, mental health conditions, an eating disorder, younger adults and people with a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder. Although there were no people with learning disabilities, autistic spectrum disorder, eating disorder or younger adults living there at the time of the inspection.

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

Governance systems were not robust enough to assess, monitor and improve the quality of the service provided. Staff told us the manager was supportive and fair. The manager was available to support staff and led care delivery by example.

Safeguarding was not always given sufficient priority to protect people from abuse and avoidable harm. Some safeguarding concerns had not been reported to the relevant professionals. Staff employed by the provider were safely recruited.

We recommended the provider review their procedure to ensure agency staff are safely recruited.

Some documentation about staff training was not clear, this was identified by the inspection team and addressed by the manager after the inspection. People had access to a choice of meals, drinks and snacks and told us they enjoyed the food. The home was purpose built and was suitable for people who were physically independent and people with significant physical disability. The home was easy for people living with dementia to navigate

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.

Staff were kind and caring. We saw many occasions where staff were companions to people and went out of their way to make people feel content. People told us they were happy there.

Care was person-centred, and people were respected as individuals. People were supported and encouraged to take part in activities that interested them.

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 09 November 2018 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on inspection methodology.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to safeguarding, governance and failing to submit notifications required by law. We found evidence the provider needs to make improvement. Please see the Safe, Effective and Well-led sections of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

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