Stagenhoe Park

Updated 15 January 2020

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors and an assistant inspector.

Service and service type

Sue Ryder - Stagenhoe Park is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection-

We spoke with five people who used the service and two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 13 members of staff including care and senior care staff, nurses, maintenance, physiotherapist, activity staff, head of care, clinical educator, clinical manager and the head of support services. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 15 January 2020

About the service

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.