Archived: Thomas Leigh Care Home

Updated 18 November 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 carried out to check that improvements to meet legal requirements planned by the provider after our comprehensive inspection on 16 and 20 April 2015 had been made. We also checked whether people's medication was being managed safely and people were receiving the support they needed with their health care. This was because we had received information of concern from external agencies regarding the quality of the service provided at Thomas Leigh. The team inspected the service against the five questions we ask about services: is the service effective? Is the service caring? Is the service safe? Is the service responsive? Is the service well led?

The inspection took place on 15 September 2015 and was unannounced. The inspection was undertaken by a lead adult social care inspector, a second adult social care inspector and an expert by experience. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

During our inspection we spoke with four of the people living at the home and met with several other people living there. We also spoke with four of their relatives and with two health or social care professionals visiting the home. We spent time observing the care and support provided to people and toured parts of the building. In addition we spoke with eight members of staff including the appointed manager and a representative of the provider.

Prior to the inspection we looked at any information we had received about the home since our comprehensive inspection in April 2015. This included an action plan for meeting legal requirements that the provider had sent to us and information we had received from external agencies.

Updated 18 November 2015

We carried out an unannounced focussed inspection of this service on 15 September 2015 for two reasons. At the comprehensive inspection of the home which we carried out in April 2015 two breaches of legal requirements were found. This was because the provider did not have suitable arrangements in place for people to consent to their care and because systems and processes in the home did not operate effectively enough to ensure that the service provided was safe, effective, caring, or well led. We had also had concerns raised with us from external agencies regarding the management of medication at the home and the support people received with their health care.

After the comprehensive inspection in April 2015, the provider wrote to us to say what they would do to meet legal requirements in relation to the breaches. As part of this focused inspection we checked to ensure they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements.

This report only covers our findings in relation to these topics. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for ‘Thomas Leigh Care Home’ on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Thomas Leigh is located in the Knotty Ash area of Merseyside and provides accommodation for up to 54 adults living with dementia.

The service is provided in a purpose built building and is close to local public transport routes. Accommodation is over two floors and the first floor can be accessed via stairs or a passenger lift. All bedrooms are single and en-suite and people share communal lounges, dining rooms and bathrooms. There are two units within the home. Lily unit provides support for people who require nursing care; Poppy unit provides support for people who do not require nursing care.

The home has a registered manager. 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. At the time of this inspection the appointed manager had applied to register with CQC and was subsequently approved.

At our focused inspection on the 15 September 2015, we found that the provider had followed their plan in which they told us actions had been completed by 24 July 2015 and legal requirements had been met. They also told us that some actions would be on-going to monitor the quality of the service.

Applications for Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards had been made where appropriate; this helped to protect people's legal rights.

Action had been taken to make fire escape routes safer, improve people's experiences at mealtimes and with occupation and activities during the day, improve laundry systems and quality assurance systems.

People were receiving the support they needed with their health care and medication.

We saw that a fire escape route was partly blocked with garden furniture which could cause an obstruction for people using it as a means of escape.

Records were not always stored securely and confidentially.