About the service The Oaks is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 43 people. The service provided support to people living with dementia, physical disabilities, sensory impairments and care for people over the age of 65. At the time of our inspection, there were 31 people using the service. The Oaks supports people in a purpose built building with all the rooms being en-suite. The premises were separated over two floors, with the first floor supporting people with nursing needs.
The Oaks also provided a domiciliary care agency to people living in bungalows adjacent to the residential care home. Not everyone who used this service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were protected from the risk of abuse and neglect. People had risks to their safety and wellbeing assessed and managed. Systems were in place to review and monitor risks.
There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. Staff who administered medication had the correct training, skills and knowledge to complete this safely.
Systems and processes were in place to manage the risk of infection transmission. If something went wrong, there were processes in place to review and learn from this to minimise future risk.
People’s preferences and wishes were listened to and implemented to provide person-centred care. People gave consent to receive care and staff had a good level of training to provide safe and compassionate care.
People told us the food was good quality and people received enough food and drinks. Staff worked with other organisations, such as health and social care professionals to make sure people received the correct care.
The premises were being renovated but had been delayed due to the impact of COVID-19. People received support in different ways whilst renovations took place. People were treated with dignity, kindness and respect whereby people were involved in decisions about their care.
There was a strong management presence as the registered manager and provider had implemented significant improvements since the last inspection. There was a culture of continual improvement and development to provide a high standard of care.
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. There were different committees which involved people and represented the views of people living at The Oaks.
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 24 June 2019) and there were breaches of regulation. Since the last inspection, the service has a new provider. The new provider registered with CQC on 20 January 2020. 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 service was no longer in breach of regulations. At our last inspection we recommended that the provider support staff to improve their knowledge in relation to Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. At this inspection, we found the provider had acted on this recommendation.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection as The Oaks had not been inspected under the current provider. 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.