Fairfield House

Updated 15 May 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector.

Service and service type:

The service is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation and personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at on this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

This was a planned inspection and was unannounced. The inspection took place on 23 and 24 April 2019.

What we did:

Before the inspection the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed notifications the service had sent us. A notification is the means by which providers tell us important information that affects the running of the service and the care people receive. We also spoke with the local authority safeguarding and quality monitoring team to obtain their views about the service. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

We spoke with four people and three relatives. We also spoke with the new registered manager, owner, seven care staff (including a senior carer and a registered mental health nurse), cook, facilities manager and housekeeper / activity coordinator. We spoke with one healthcare professional during the site visit and one healthcare professional by telephone after the site visit.

We looked around the service and observed care practices throughout the inspection. We reviewed a range of records including five care plans, three staff files, training records and other information about the management of the service. This included accidents and incidents information, four Medicine Administration Records (MAR), mental capacity assessments, equipment checks and quality assurance audits.

Updated 15 May 2019

About the service:

Fairfield House is a nursing home. The care home accommodates up to 16 people. There were 16 people living at the home at the time of our inspection. The home is a detached building with rooms arranged over two floors and a ground floor lounge and dining area. There is lift access to the first floor. People are able to access secure outside space at the home. The majority of people living at the service had dementia or mental health diagnoses. Most people were unable to speak with us to tell us about living at the home, so we gathered this information from relatives and through observation.

People’s experience of using this service:

People felt safe and happy living at Fairfield House. Staff understood how to keep people safe from harm or abuse and understood their responsibility to raise concerns if they were to witness poor or abusive practice.

People were supported by staff who demonstrated a good understanding of how to meet their individual needs and preferences. People’s desired outcomes were known, and staff worked alongside people, health and social care professionals and, where appropriate, their relatives to help them achieve these. People and relatives expressed confidence in the skills and competence of staff at the home.

People were supported and encouraged to maintain contact with those important to them including family, friends and other people living at the home. Staff interacted with people in a kind and caring way with respectful language used at all times. Staff had got to know people well which supported mutually beneficial interactions and responsive care.

The new registered manager of the home had settled in well and, with the owner, had helped develop a cohesive and happy staff team. People, relatives and staff spoke positively about the way the management had improved the atmosphere of the home and the service people received. People and their relatives felt consulted and involved.

Improved auditing had provided greater managerial oversight. This helped ensure that practice standards were maintained and improved. Good working relationships with health and social professionals were helping to keep people living well.

Rating at last inspection:

At our last inspection we rated the home Requires Improvement (published 17/05/2018) as we found shortfalls in quality assurance, mental capacity assessments, systems used to monitor role specific training and the language staff used when talking about and interacting with people.

At this inspection we found the shortfalls had been addressed and the rating had improved.

Why we inspected:

This inspection was a scheduled inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.

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