10 May 2023
During a routine inspection
Olive House Home for Older People is a care home providing accommodation for persons who require personal care for up to 44 people. The service provides support to older people and younger adults who are living with physical disabilities, dementia, or mental health. At the time of our inspection there were 29 people using the service. The home accommodates people across 2 floors in one building.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Risks were not always managed safely. Infection control practices were not always safe. Medicines storage needed assessing. We made a recommendation about this. People were safeguarded from risk of abuse and people felt safe. Adequate staffing was in place, and although recruitment practices were safe, records relating to recruitment needed improving. We reviewed some examples of lessons learned, though work was needed to strengthen this.
Staff supervisions were not happening in line with the provider's policy, the provider had put a plan in place to address this over the next 3 months. Appropriate staff training was in place and people were supported with food and fluid intake, though records relating to this was not always completed. People’s needs were assessed, and people were supported with their health care needs. Although some adaptations had been made to the home to meet the needs of the people living there, further improvements were needed.
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, though we found that people who lacked capacity did not always have the appropriate paperwork in place to support restrictions in place. We made a recommendation about this.
Equality and diversity was respected and staff completed training in this area. People’s privacy and dignity was respected, and records were securely stored. Staff were kind and people were able to express their views.
Complaints were not always handled in line with the homes policy. Records were not always person centred. People told us they were involved in their care planning, and they were able to make everyday choices. Records relating to people’s communication needs required more detail. An activities coordinator supported people to take part in activities and people were supported to have visits from loved ones. The service was not supporting anyone who was end of life at the time of the inspection.
Shortfalls in governance were identified during the inspection. This included poor recording and ineffective audits. Necessary information was being sent to the local authority and CQC. The management team was aware of their responsibility under the duty of candour and spoke about being honest when things go wrong. People and staff spoke positively about the management and the service worked in partnership with the local authority and various health teams. Meetings with staff, people and their relatives were taking place and some surveys had been carried out.
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.
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 (12 September 2019).
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service and concerns shared about a mental health unit that had opened since our last inspection, medicines management and general concerns over the management of the service. On arrival to the service, we were informed the mental health unit was in the process of closing.
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 Olive House Home for Older People on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Enforcement and Recommendations
We have identified breaches in relation to risk, infection control, staff supervisions, complaints and governance at this inspection. We have also made recommendations relating to medicines and depriving people of their liberty.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.