Oakdale

Updated 15 March 2023

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 3 inspectors, a specialist nurse advisor and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Oakdale is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Oakdale is a care home with nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. A manager had been in post for 11 weeks and had submitted an application to register. We are currently assessing this application.

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 service improvement and the safeguarding team. The provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 11 people who used the service and 8 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 21 members of staff. This included the home manager, nominated individual, clinical lead, head of quality, operations manager, maintenance officer, chef, nurses and care workers. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We received feedback from 3 health and social care professionals.

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 looked at 12 people's care records and multiple medication records. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 15 March 2023

About the service

Oakdale is a purpose-built home in a residential area of Bournemouth. It is registered to provide nursing care and support for up to 84 older people some whom were living with dementia. The home is split over three floors which are accessible by stairs or a lift. There were 67 people receiving care and support at the time of inspection.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Developments to governance systems had been made and the overall management oversight of the home had improved. Some processes were still being embedded and further were planned. The management staff structure introduced was stable and this had increased confidence in leadership within the home.

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. The home had identified some paperwork was not always in place to record people’s decision-making capabilities. We have made a recommendation about assessment of mental capacity.

People, their relatives, staff and external professionals told us Oakdale was a safe place to be. Improvements had been made across the whole service. However, the manager and provider were still working on increasing confidence especially with relatives and visitors to the home.

People were protected from avoidable harm as infection control procedures were in place and robust, the home was clean, tidy and free from clutter. Staff had access to enough personal protective equipment (PPE) to support safety from infections. Risks people faced in their daily lives had been assessed and steps to reduce them were known to staff. Staff worked in a safe way, environmental and utility checks throughout the home were robust.

Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse and how to raise their concerns, they were confident they would be followed up. People received their medicines as prescribed, staff who gave medicines were trained and had their competency assessed. People had access to health care services as needed and these were sought in a timely manner. People were supported to have enough to eat and drink. Where there were concerns or risks for people’s nutrition robust measures were in place to support the need.

Staff felt supported and proud to work at Oakdale. Training and supervision meant staff had the necessary skills to support the needs of people. Significant developments had been made in diabetes and dementia care within the home. This included working with external agencies to pilot good practice initiatives. Health and social care professionals worked well with the home and gave positive feedback about their relationship with Oakdale.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 19 June 2019) and there was a breach of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 11 May 2021. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve good governance.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe, effective and well-led which contain those requirements.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Oakdale on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.