Archived: Green Acres Nursing Home

Updated 7 February 2014

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 regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and to pilot a new inspection process under Wave 1. 

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors 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.

We visited the service on 17 April 2014. We used a number of different methods to help us understand the experiences of people who used the service. These included talking with people and their relatives and observing the care being delivered and talking with the staff. We also looked at documents and records that related to people’s care and the management of the service.

Before our inspection, we reviewed all the information we held about the service and contacted a representative of the Leeds City Council commissioning team. They gave us positive feedback about the service. We also spoke with a specialist infection control nurse who had visited the home recently. They told us they had identified areas for improvement in infection prevention and control in the home recently. They said the staff in the home had been very responsive and had addressed the issues quickly and effectively.  

On the day of our inspection we met most of the people who used the service and talked with twenty people, including visiting some people in their rooms. We were not able to speak with some people as they were too ill to speak with us. We spoke with nine visiting relatives and friends.

We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a specific way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We spoke with the registered manager, the deputy manager and twelve members of the care team. We also met and spoke with the regional manager.

Updated 7 February 2014

Green Acres Nursing Home is a purpose built home located about a mile and a half from Leeds City Centre. The home provides care for up to 62 people, including 26 NHS Intermediate Care beds. Intermediate care is a collection of services aimed at helping people stay in their own home, or care home instead of going into hospital, or that help people get home after a hospital stay.

The service had a manager and they were registered with the Care Quality Commission. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service and shares the legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the law with the provider.

On the day of our inspection we met most of the people who used the service and talked with twenty people, including visiting some people in their rooms. We were not able to speak with some people as they were too ill to speak with us. We spoke with nine visiting relatives and friends. The people we spoke with told us they felt well cared for and safe at Green Acres. We saw that staff treated people with respect and were mindful of their rights and dignity.

We found the service was meeting the requirements of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. These safeguards make sure that people who lack capacity to make decisions are not deprived of their liberty unlawfully and are protected. People’s human rights were therefore properly recognised, respected and promoted.

People’s plans included risk assessments. These told the staff about the risks for each person and how to manage and minimise the risks to help keep people safe. People’s needs had been assessed and their care given in a way that suited their needs, without placing unnecessary restrictions on them.

The arrangements for handling medicines were safe and people received their medicines as prescribed.

People who used the service and people who mattered to them, such as a close family member, had been encouraged to make their views known about their care. They had contributed to their assessments and care plans, about how they should be given care. People’s care plans had a good level of information about how each person should be cared for; to make sure their needs were met.  

The staff were well trained, skilled and experienced. They had caring attitudes and we saw they encouraged people to be as independent as they could be, and chose to be. People told us the staff were kind. We saw people had the privacy they needed.  

People were encouraged to share any concerns and complaints they had. They said they told the staff if they had any worries. People didn’t have any complaints to tell us about and were very happy with the care they received at Green Acres. 

People had a chance to say what they thought about the service and the service learned from its mistakes, using complaints and incidents as an opportunity for learning and improvement. There was good leadership at all levels and the registered manager and her deputy promoted a positive culture that was person centred, open, inclusive and caring. 

The environment was clean, safe and well maintained. We saw an example of good practice where each person had the name and photograph of their key worker and the name of their nurse printed on a colourful poster attached to the wardrobe, in a prominent position in each room. This helped people with recognition.