About the service Oakfield House is a residential care home providing personal care for up to 30 older people who may be living with dementia, in one large adapted building. At the time of our inspection there were 27 people using the service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People told us they were happy living at the service and felt safe. Potential risks to people’s health and welfare had been assessed and there was guidance in place for staff to mitigate the risks. Accidents and incidents had been recorded and analysed to identify any patterns and trends, action had been taken to reduce the risk of them happening again.
Staff were recruited safely, the required checks had been completed to keep people safe. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. Staff had received training appropriate to their role and their competency had been checked.
Medicines were managed safely. Staff monitored people’s health and referred them to health professionals when their needs changed. People were supported to eat a balanced diet and given a choice of meals.
The management team completed regular checks and audits on all areas of the service. Action was taken when shortfalls were found. People and staff were asked their opinion of the service and suggestions made had been acted upon.
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 protected from discrimination and abuse. Staff knew how to recognise the signs of abuse and the registered manager understood their responsibility to report any concerns to the local authority.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 20 February 2020). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 3 and 4 February 2020. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve governance and staff recruitment.
We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.
We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective and Well-led which contain those requirements.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Oakfield House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.