• Care Home
  • Care home

Douglas House

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

Douglas Avenue, Brixham, Devon, TQ5 9EL (01803) 856333

Provided and run by:
Valorum Care Limited

Important: The provider of this service changed. See old profile

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Date of assessment: 5 to 24 March 2025. This assessment was prompted by information of concern received in relation to staffing, governance, personal care, medicines management and lack of choice regarding food. Douglas House- Care Home with Nursing Physical Disabilities, is a nursing home that provides accommodation for persons who require nursing and personal care for up to 30 people, at the time of our assessment, 22 people were living at the service. The service specialises in supporting people under and over 65 yrs old, with dementia, learning disabilities, mental health conditions and/or physical disabilities.

An assessment has been undertaken of a service that is used by autistic people or people with a learning disability. We have assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.

At our last assessment, we rated the service good. At this assessment we have rated the service requires improvement. We found 2 breaches of regulation in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance. The service did not always learn from previous hospital admissions to prevent reoccurrence. The service did not always do all that is reasonably practicable to mitigate identified risks to improve the quality of care, and plans were not always in place to support people to manage risks effectively. Medicines were not always managed safely. Governance systems were in place but were not always effective. However, people were protected and kept safe from abuse. People were treated with kindness, empathy and compassion and staff respected people’s privacy and dignity. The service was passionate about getting care right and was responsive to our feedback throughout the assessment. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.

25 April 2022

During a routine inspection

About the service

Douglas House is a residential care home providing regulated activity of personal and nursing care to up to a maximum of 30 people. People living in the home have a range of needs which include complex physical nursing needs and disabilities. At the time of the inspection 22 people were living at the service.

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

People were supported by staff who were kind and caring and who understood their needs, preferences and what was important to them. Staff respected people's privacy and dignity, encouraged people with making choices, and promoted independence.

People received person-centred care. Each person had personalised care plans which included information about people's life, their communication and their care needs and preferences. People were involved in care planning and reviewing their care.

Risk assessments detailed people's individual risks associated with people’s physical health needs and medical conditions as well as risks associated with nutrition, moving and handling, pressure ulcer prevention and choking.

People felt safe and were protected from the potential risk of harm and abuse. Staff understood their responsibilities for safeguarding people and followed the provider's policy and procedure.

Staff sought people's consent before providing support. 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.

The provider operated safe and robust recruitment and selection procedures to make sure staff were suitable and safe to work with people.

During the inspection we saw there were sufficient staff on duty to meet people’s needs. However, some people told us this was not always the case at weekends and at night. This was discussed with the provider who told us they had recognised this and this was being addressed.

People were supported to eat and drink a healthy and nutritious diet. There was a choice of meals and people's preference was sought.

People had access to a wide range of activities on offer, both within the service and in the community, to help prevent people becoming socially isolated and to keep people active.

There were systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service. Incidents and accidents were investigated, trends analysed, and actions were taken to prevent recurrence.

There were processes in place for people to raise any complaints and express their views and opinions about the service provided.

The premises were maintained and checked to help ensure the safety of people, staff and visitors.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 6 August 2019, and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection as the service had not had a rated inspection since registering with us.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.