We completed an unannounced inspection at Newford Nursing Home on 26 April 2016. At the last inspection on 31 December 2013 the provider was meeting the required standards.Newford Nursing Home is registered to provide accommodation with personal care and nursing for up to 41 people. People who use the service may have physical disabilities and/or mental health needs such as dementia. At the time of the inspection the service supported 38 people.
There was a registered manager at the service. 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 found medicines were not managed in a safe way and improvements were needed to ensure people were protected from the risk of harm.
The registered manager was not fully aware of their responsibilities to notify us (CQC) of any Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) that had been authorised for people who used the service.
People told us they felt safe with the care provided by staff. However, the registered manager had not always reported alleged abuse appropriately.
People’s risks had been assessed, but we found improvements were needed to ensure these were monitored and managed to protect people from the risk of harm.
Improvements were needed to ensure that people were supported consistently in line with their eating and drinking assessments. Mealtime choices were not always promoted in a way that helped people who had difficulty communicating their needs.
Improvements were needed to ensure that staff provided care in a way that protected people’s privacy and dignity.
Improvements were needed to ensure that people were able to access hobbies and interests that were important to them.
People were not always supported in a way that met their communication needs which meant people did not always receive support in line with their preferences.
The provider did not have effective systems in place to consistently assess, monitor and improve the quality of care. This meant that poor care was unable to be identified and rectified by the registered manager and provider.
There were enough suitably qualified staff available to keep people safe and the provider had effective recruitment procedures in place.
People were supported by staff who had received training, which gave staff the knowledge and skills to provide appropriate care that met people’s needs.
People consented to their care and the provider followed the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) where people lacked the capacity to make certain decisions about their care. Staff understood their responsibilities and followed the requirements of the MCA and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) when they provided support.
People were supported to access other health professionals to maintain their health and wellbeing.
People were supported by staff that were caring and compassionate. Choices on how people wanted their care and support provided were promoted, listened to and acted on.
People and their relatives were involved in the planning and review of their care.
The provider had a complaints policy available and people knew how to complain and who they needed to complain to.
People were given the opportunity to feedback on the quality of their care and actions were in place to make improvements.
People and staff told us the registered manager was approachable and staff felt supported in their role.
You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.