Archived: Sunrise of Hale Barns

Updated 18 October 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

The inspection was unannounced and was undertaken on 19 and 20 September 2018. The inspection team consisted of two inspectors, an assistant inspector and two experts 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.

Prior to our inspection we asked the provider to complete a Provider Information Return. This is a form which asks the provider to give us some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they would like to make. We also reviewed the information we held about Sunrise of Hale Barns, including any statutory notifications submitted by the provider or other information received by members of the public. A statutory notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send to us by law.

We contacted Trafford local authority, and Healthwatch (Trafford) to obtain their views about the quality of this service. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. All of the comments and feedback received was reviewed and used to assist and inform our inspection.

We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI) in the reminiscence neighbourhood. SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We undertook 'pathway tracking' of care records, which involves cross referencing people's care records via the home's documentation. We observed care within the home throughout the day in the lounges, dining room and communal areas.

During the inspection we spoke with 21 people who lived at the home and five relatives, to seek their views. We spoke with 13 members of staff including six care workers, three senior care workers, the registered manager, deputy manager, operations director, and the maintenance coordinator. We also contacted a health professional who visited the home regularly.

We looked at staff training and supervision records for the staff team, one month of staff rotas and the staff files for six staff including their recruitment records. We looked at 18 medicines administration records in the medicines treatment room. We also looked at records of staff meetings, quality monitoring records, medicines adults, fire safety records and health and safety records relating to legionella, maintenance and servicing of equipment. We read the fire risk assessment for the home.

Updated 18 October 2018

This inspection took place on 19 and 20 September 2018 and was unannounced. This was the first inspection since recent registration changes. This service is run by two companies, Sunrise Senior Living Limited and Sunrise UK Operations Limited. These two companies have a dual registration and are jointly responsible for the services at Sunrise of Hale Barns.

Sunrise of Hale Barns is a care home located in the county of Cheshire, close to Hale Barns village. People in care homes receive accommodation and personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. The home is registered to provide accommodation and support for up to 95 older people some of whom are living with dementia.

The service, which is known as a 'community', is divided into two separate neighbourhoods, the 'assisted living' neighbourhood and the 'reminiscence' neighbourhood. The assisted living neighbourhood provides residential care for up to 60 older people. The reminiscence neighbourhood provides residential care and support for up to 35 older people living with dementia.

The reminiscence floor has a similar layout to those in assisted living which is situated on the ground and first floor. At the time of this inspection 57 people were living in the assisted living community and 28 people in the reminiscence community.

We last inspected the service on the 21 June 2017 and we rated the service as good. However, we rated the safe domain requires improvement, due to differing experiences we received regarding the response times from staff and we found call bells were not being monitored to improve people’s experiences when they required staff assistance.

At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the overall rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and on-going monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection. At this inspection we found the service remained Good overall.

Why the service is rated good.

The service had a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with CQC 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. The registered manager and the deputy manager supported us during our inspection. They worked closely together and were involved in the running of the service along with senior staff. Therefore, we will refer to them as 'the management team' further in the report.

During the last inspection we found differing experiences regarding the response times from care staff. At this inspection we found significant progress had been made. We found call bells are now being monitored daily to identify any shortfalls and determine what action the home intended to make to improve people's experiences.

The provider introduced an electronic care planning system in April 2018. However, we found this system did not provide a clear falls risk assessment function. Although we were assured the management team had acted to reduce the risk of falls, we found this had not always been documented in people’s risk assessments or care plans. We have made a recommendation the home implements a risk assessment framework in relation to falls management, that clearly records the action taken by the management team.

We witnessed good cooperation and communication amongst staff, who were aware of their responsibilities. People who used the service were stimulated, and had bonded with the staff and formed friendship groups amongst themselves. The home conveyed a content and welcoming atmosphere where people felt at home.

The service was safe and people were protected from harm. Care workers were knowledgeable about safeguarding adults from abuse and knew what to do if they had any concerns and how to report them. Safeguarding training was given to all staff.

Care plans were based on the needs identified within the assessment, however we found people living with long term conditions such as dementia and diabetes did not a specific care plan in place, and therefore it did not reflect the current needs of these people. We have made a recommendation the service consults national best practice guidance for person-centred care and support planning.

Staff received induction and on-going training to enable them to meet the needs of people they supported effectively. Staff were supported by way of regular supervision, appraisal and access to management.

Effective systems were in place to ensure people's medicines were managed safely. Only trained staff were allowed to administer medicines.

People's rights were protected. The registered manager was knowledgeable about their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People were only deprived of their liberty if this had been authorised by the appropriate body or where applications had been made to do so.

People had access to a wide range of activities which were provided seven days a week and were well supported by staff to access the community and activities further afield.

People's healthcare needs were well managed by the service. Staff worked as part of multi-disciplinary teams to support people with a range of complex healthcare needs. People were very well supported to access external healthcare services as they required.

Systems to monitor key aspects of the service, obtain feedback on the standard of care provided and to respond to safeguarding concerns and complaints had also been established.

Quality assurance practices were robust and taking place regularly. There was good day to day management of the service. The management team were respected, visible and supportive to both staff and the people who used the service, ensuring standards of care were maintained.