Acorn Court Care Home

Updated 19 November 2020

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.

This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection control and prevention measures the provider has in place. As part of CQC’s response to the coronavirus pandemic we are conducting a thematic review of infection control and prevention measures in care homes.

This inspection took place on 27 October 2020 and was announced. The service was selected to take part in this thematic review which is seeking to identify examples of good practice in infection prevention and control.

Updated 19 November 2020

About the service

Acorn Care Home is a residential home providing personal and nursing care for up to 86 people. The service is provided in one building, which was divided into four units. Two of the units were on the ground floor and the other two were on the first and second floors. At the time of our inspection, there were 83 people using the service.

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

People felt safe in the service. There were systems in place to assess and manage risks to people. Staff understood adult safeguarding procedures, which meant any potential or real incidents of abuse were appropriately reported.

Although there were enough staff most of the time, there were times when the staffing levels were not adequate. The registered manager was aware of the issues and how to address them to ensure enough staff were available to meet people's needs. Staff were recruited appropriately following the provider's recruitment processes. These ensured staff were safe to work with people and had the necessary skills and experience to provide care. Staff received support, training, supervision and annual appraisals.

Overall, medicines were managed safely. However, there was one gap in the recording of medicines. The registered manager assured us that this would have been picked up through their auditing system. They said they would take appropriate action to ensure there was no gaps in the recording of medicines.

The service was clean throughout and there were systems in place to manage the risk of the spread of infections. Records of incidents and accidents were kept, and lessons were learnt, where appropriate, to ensure improvement in the service.

People had their needs assessed when they started using the service. Care plans were developed and reviewed to ensure people had the right support. Care plans were recorded electronically and on paper. Staff had access to both systems and knew people's needs. Staff were kind and respectful to people. People's privacy and dignity was respected, and staff had good knowledge of equality and diversity which meant that people's choices, preferences and human rights were respected.

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 to have nutritious food that reflected their preferences and needs. Staff supported people to have access to healthcare.

There were various auditing systems in place to ensure that aspects of the service were quality assured and actions taken, where shortfalls were identified. Surveys were used to gather feedback about the quality of the service. The registered manager worked with other organisations for the benefit of people using the service.

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 (published on 26 May 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 reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.