The Gables Care Home on Manchester Road was graded as good for being responsive, caring and effective but in the areas of being safe and well-led the care home was rated as requires improvements which became its overall grading following a visit from the Care Quality Commission.
The independent regulator of health and social care in England said this inspection was carried out to follow up on the actions they had asked the provider to make following the last inspection in September 2024.
An inspector said: “The provider had made several improvements, including strengthening systems and processes to monitor and learn from accidents and incidents, and improving the environment.
“However, further work was still required to ensure effective oversight of people’s care plans and medicine management.
“Guidance for staff was not always sufficiently detailed, and changes made to the medicines system had not yet been fully embedded into day‑to‑day practice.
“Some issues we identified during this inspection had not been highlighted through the provider’s audit processes, meaning some risks and inconsistencies had not been recognised or addressed.”
The Gables provides nursing or personal care for adults over 65, those with dementia and those with learning disabilities.
The CQC inspector said: “People’s care plans did not always provide sufficient detail and guidance for staff to follow on how to manage people’s known risks.
“We raised this during our inspection, and the provider took immediate action to put this right.”
The report, which was published on March, 23 noted medicines were not always safely managed.
The inspector said: “We identified one person’s medicine stock that did not correspond with the records in place and a safe system for monitoring stock was not in place.
“Staff had not consistently recorded the outcome when PRN medicines (when required) were administered, including whether the medicine had been effective.”
Safeguarding systems were in place and effective in ensuring incidents were investigated and analysed.
And the report stated the provider ‘detected and controlled potential risks in the environment well and health and safety checks were regularly completed’. We found infection, prevention and control measures in place and followed by staff.
Looking at positives at the care home the inspector said: “The provider had made improvements to how they determined the staffing levels in the service, and we observed care to be provided in a timely manner to people.
“We found the provider had made improvements to people’s care plans and the information available to staff.
“Care plans now include important details about people’s life histories, likes and preferences.
“People and their relatives had opportunities to be involved in developing and reviewing their care plans.
“Staff demonstrated how they knew people well, we observed staff to be engaging with people and spending time listening to people.”
The inspector added: “Arrangements were in place to enable people to access services if they were unable to use these in the local community, these included a visiting podiatrist and visits from the local church.
“People were supported to plan for important life changes, so they could have enough time to make informed decisions about their future, including at the end of their life.”