Archived: Cornerways Residential Home

Updated 6 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 planned to check whether the provider had made improvements since the last inspection and was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

This inspection took place on 5 October 2015 and was unannounced. This inspection was done to check that improvements to meet legal requirements planned by the provider after our comprehensive inspection on the 8 April 2015 had been made. The inspection took place with one inspector. We inspected the service against three of the five questions we ask about services: Is the service safe: Is the service effective: Is the service well-led. This is because the service was not meeting three legal requirements in relation to the premises, need for consent and good governance and had received two recommendations in relation to staffing and care plans.

We reviewed information about this service that was held by CQC which included the statutory notifications that had been made and the action plan that had been sent to us by the service following the inspection on 8 April 2015. Prior to the inspection we contacted local authority commissioners who told us that they had no current concerns

During the inspection we spoke with four people who used the service. We also spoke with three members of staff; the registered manager and a district nurse.

We looked at three care plans and associated documents relating to care, the quality audits, staff roster and had a tour of the premises.

Updated 6 November 2015

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 8 April 2015. At this inspection we found a breach of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This was in relation to three regulations: Regulation 15 HSCA (RA) 2014 - Premises and equipment. The provider had failed to protect people against the risks associated with in adequate maintenance of the environment. Regulation 11 HSCA (RA) 2014 - Need for consent. The provider had failed to obtain consent from relevant people about their care. And Regulation 17 HSCA (RA) 2014 - Good Governance. The provider had failed to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service.

This meant people were at risk of receiving unsafe care and treatment because of the risks associated with these three breaches of the regulations.

We also made two recommendations at our inspection on 8 April 2015. We recommended the provider: Reviewed staffing levels, specifically ancillary hours at the home to ensure that the care people received was not compromised, because care staff were also expected to carry out laundry, domestic and kitchen duties during their shift. And reviewed people’s care plans to ensure that the home is able to meet people’s care needs and that risk assessments and management plans for all risks identified were recorded in the care plans.

After the comprehensive inspection, the provider wrote to us with an action plan to say what they would do to meet legal requirements, in relation to the breaches and the recommendations noted above.

We undertook this unannounced focused inspection on 5 October 2015, to check that the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm that they now met with the legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to these requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Cornerways Residential Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Cornerways Residential Home is owned by Amocura Limited and is registered to provide personal care for up to 20 people, some of whom may have dementia. Cornerways does not provide nursing care. The home was previously a private dwelling and retains many of the original features. It is situated in a residential area of Harrogate and has parking for several cars to the front of the property, otherwise there is on street parking available.

The home employs a registered manager who had worked at the home for over twelve years. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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.

Since the last comprehensive inspection on 8 April 2015, the provider had taken action to address the environmental shortfalls, consent was being sought from people about their care and auditing had begun to assess and monitor the running of the service. The provider had also addressed the recommendations made about providing additional staffing in the laundry and kitchen and care plans had been rewritten to include relevant information about each individual. Care plans were now person centred and up to date. Risks to people’s health and wellbeing were also being identified.

Staff followed the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to ensure that people’s rights were protected where they were unable to make decisions for themselves.

We received information from Healthwatch. They are an independent body who hold key information about the local views and experiences of people receiving care. CQC has a statutory duty to work with Healthwatch to take account of their views and to consider any concerns that may have been raised with them about this service. We also consulted the Local Authority to see if they had any concerns about the service. No concerns were raised by either Healthwatch or the Local Authority.