Archived: The Malting's Care Home

The Malting’s Care Home provides accommodation, support and care, including nursing care, for up to 50 people, some of whom live with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 48 people living at the care home.

The home is purpose built and is arranged on two floors with an enclosed landscaped garden to the rear. Access to the first floor is by means of stairs or a passenger lift. All bedrooms are for single use only and are provided with en suite facilities. On-site leisure facilities include a gymnasium, cinema, hairdressing, a library, games and sensory rooms. In addition, there are communal bathrooms, toilets, lounges and quiet rooms. The home offers long or short term stays.

The inspection was unannounced and was carried out by one inspector.

A registered manager was in post at the time of the inspection. 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.

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 03 February 2015. A breach of three legal requirements was found. After the comprehensive inspection, the provider wrote to us to say what they would do to meet the legal requirements in relation to management of people’s medicines; how people were cared for and how their right to consent was valued.

We undertook this focused inspection on 18 May 2015 to check that the provider had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements.

This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for The Malting’s Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

At our focused inspection on the 18 May 2015, we found that the provider had followed most of their plan which they had told us would be completed by the 30 April 2015 to show how the legal requirements had been met.

People told us that they were satisfied with how they were supported to take their medicines. The medicines trolley was locked at the times when it was left unattended and staff who were responsible for the management of medicines held the keys to the trolley and storage areas for medicines. People, who were assessed to be able to manage their own medicines, kept their medicines secure.

People were supported in making decisions about their care and were not subjected to unlawful restrictions. Mental capacity assessments had been carried out and the conditions of people’s individual authorised Deprivation of Liberty Safeguard (DoLS) applications were adhered to.

People were satisfied with how staff treated them and staff comforted and treated people well. However, this was not consistently carried out. The quality of people’s dining and moving and handling experiences was varied and this depended on how staff members interacted with people.

People knew the names of the senior managers and staff had positive comments to make about them. We saw that improvements had been made in relation to the management of the service. Staff were more aware of their roles and responsibilities and audits had identified actions to be taken where improvements were required. Following the last inspection we rated the service and staff were aware of this. However, people and visitors were not aware of the rating as this information was not publicly displayed for people to see.

We found a breach of the Health and Social Care Act (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.

The Malting’s Care Home provides accommodation, support and care, including nursing care, for up to 50 people, some of whom live with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 39 people living at the care home.

The home is purpose built and is arranged on two floors with an enclosed landscaped garden to the rear. Access to the first floor is by means of stairs or a passenger lift. All bedrooms are for single use only and are provided with en suite facilities. On-site leisure facilities include a gymnasium, cinema, hairdressing, a library, games and sensory rooms. In addition, there are communal bathing areas, lounges and quiet rooms. The home offers long or short term stays.

This unannounced inspection took place on 03 February 2015 and was completed by one inspector. This was the first inspection of The Malting’s Care Home since it was first registered with the Care Quality Commission on 14 July 2014.

The Malting’s Care Home had a registered manager in post. 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 were safe living at the service and staff were knowledgeable about reporting any abuse. There was a sufficient number of staff employed and recruitment procedures ensured that only suitable staff were employed. Arrangements were in place to ensure that people were protected from unsafe management of medication most of the time. However, improvements were needed in relation to the safe keeping of some people’s prescribed medication.

The CQC is required by law to monitor the operation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and to report on what we find. DoLS applications had been made to ensure people’s rights were protected. However, improvements were needed in relation to assessing people’s mental capacity as defined by the MCA. In addition, improvements were needed in protecting people’s rights from unlawful restriction at all times.

Staff were supported to do their job. People were supported to access a range of health care professionals. Health risk assessments were in place to ensure that people were supported to maintain their health.

People were provided with adequate amounts of food and drink to meet their individual likes and nutritional and hydration needs.

People’s privacy and dignity were respected most of the time. However, improvements were needed in relation to the quality of care that some of the people received. Care was not consistently provided in a caring and compassionate way. In addition, there were inconsistencies in trained staff members’ understanding of the needs of some of the people living with dementia.

People’s hobbies and interests had been identified and a range of in-house facilities and activities supported people with these.

A complaints procedure was in place. Complaints had been recorded and responded to the satisfaction of the complainant. People could raise concerns with the staff at any time.

The provider had quality assurance processes and procedures in place to improve, if needed, the quality and safety of people’s support and care. However, the provider had not identified the issues we found during our inspection and this placed people at risk of inappropriate and institutionalised care.

A staff training and development programme was in place and procedures were in place to review the standard of staff members’ work performance.

We found a number of breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.