• Care Home
  • Care home

Dene Grange Care Home

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Dene Road, Hexham, Northumberland, NE46 1HW (01434) 603357

Provided and run by:
Marton Care Homes Ltd

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

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 18 March 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of 1 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.

Service and service type

Dene Grange Care Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Dene Grange Care Home is a care home with nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

We contacted the local authority safeguarding and commissioning teams, the local infection control team, the fire service, the medicine’s optimisation team for the area and Healthwatch to gain feedback. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 11 people and 2 family members at the home. We contacted a further 10 family members via phone or email about their experience of the care provided. We contacted the whole staff team via email to gain their feedback. We communicated with 12 members of staff including the registered manager, nursing, care, administration, kitchen, domestic staff and the regional manager. We contacted 4 healthcare professionals and received feedback from 3.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 9 people's care and support records and multiple medicine administration records. We looked at 4 staff records in relation to recruitment and training. We also reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the home, including policies and procedures, staffing rotas, accident and incident records, safeguarding records and reports.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 18 March 2023

About the service

Dene Grange Care Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 50 people, some of whom live with dementia. At the time of our inspection 30 people were using the service, living in three units within the home. One unit was not currently being used.

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

Improvements following our last inspection had been made. Risks had been identified and regularly reviewed.

People felt safe and medicines were managed well. People and their relatives said staff were kind and looked after them very well.

The home was well-led, and the registered manager had improved governance and quality assurance systems. Lessons were learnt when things went wrong.

The home was still in the process of refurbishment, but this was expected to be completed in the next few months. The home and surrounding gardens had been made safe and ongoing monitoring took place.

There were enough staff to meet people’s needs, although there was a lack of domestic staff and the registered manager had already gained agreement for domestic staff to be increased. Staff were recruited safely and were inducted into the service and received suitable ongoing training.

The home was clean and tidy, although due to a lack of domestic staff, touch points were not cleaned as often as they should have been. There were some inconsistencies with staff around the use of PPE. These issues were addressed immediately by the registered manager.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were supported with foods and drinks they enjoyed. People were supported to access healthcare services and staff had good working relationships with external professionals.

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 requires improvement (published 22 September 2022). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

At our last inspection we recommended the provider review their medicines procedures. At this inspection we found recommendations had been addressed.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

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.

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

Follow up

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