5 December 2019
During a routine inspection
Sue Ryder - Stagenhoe Park is a specialist neurological care centre providing personal and nursing care for 42 people with a range of neurological conditions such as Huntington’s Disease, Parkinson’s and Multiple Sclerosis. The service can support up to 50 people.
The Grade II listed building offers accommodation on two floors. The bedrooms are generous in size and have nice views of the surrounding gardens.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
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.
People were supported by staff who received appropriate training and were skilled to meet people’s complex needs. Staff knew their responsibility about safeguarding people from possible abuse. They knew to observe, record and report their concerns internally and externally to safeguarding authorities.
People’s needs were met by a team of nursing, physiotherapists and care staff. There was a multidisciplinary team approach to assess and meet people’s needs as well as identify risks and put measures in place to mitigate them. Equipment needed to support people’s health needs and independence was in place and regularly checked to ensure these were safe to use.
Staff received training and felt supported to carry out their roles. People’s needs were met by staff in a timely way, however when unplanned staff absences occurred they felt under pressure to ensure people received the care they needed. People’s medicines were managed safely by trained staff who had their competency assessed. Lessons were learnt when things went wrong, and actions were taken to prevent re-occurrence.
Staff understood the importance for people to have a good nutrition and hydration. There were established systems and processes in place to refer people to GP, dietician and speech and therapy support if they needed it.
People and relatives told us how caring and kind staff were towards them. People felt empowered to take decisions and discuss their needs with staff. Relatives told us they always felt welcome and involved in their loved one’s care.
Staff gathered information from people and relatives about people’s likes, dislikes and preferences to ensure they could provide personalised care even when people were no longer able to communicate their choices.
Staff used communication aids to enable people for as long as possible to be involved in their care and be independent. Activities were provided to people. These were adapted to the needs and abilities of the people living in the home.
People received end of life care from staff who ensured that they were comfortable. Staff were developing the care plans for people’s needs nearing the end of their life to ensure personalised and compassionate care was given to people right until the end.
The provider enabled staff to participate in testing new assistive technology to support people to be more independent and improve their quality of life. Plans were in place to collect data from these trials to feed into a nationwide database to develop best practice for people with neurological conditions.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was good (report published on 16 June 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.