1 September 2016
During an inspection looking at part of the service
We undertook this unannounced focused inspection on 1 September 2016 to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Polars on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Polars is a residential care home for people requiring personal care. A maximum of 37 people can be accommodated and at the time of our inspection there were 29 people living in the home, some of whom had physical disabilities or were living with dementia. Care is provided over two floors, with two lifts providing access to the upper floors. On the ground floor there are several communal lounge areas, a hair salon, a dining room and a garden.
A registered manager was not in place at the time of the inspection, although the manager had applied to be registered with CQC and their application was being processed. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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.
Most people were protected appropriately from the risk of falling. Where people had fallen, staff took action to reduce the risk of recurrence. However, staff had not considered changes to improve the safety of the environment for a person who had fallen on multiple occasions, although the manager agreed to do this.
Where needed, staff monitored people’s blood sugar levels effectively and took positive action when the levels were too high or too low. This helped ensure people’s health was maintained.
People were cared for in a clean, hygienic environment. Infection control risks had been assessed. Staff had been suitably trained and followed appropriate procedures to reduce the risk and spread of infection. The laundry had been refurbished and new storage arrangements had been put in place to keep people’s topical creams safe and minimise the risk of cross infection.