Care Home: Vitalise Sandpipers Centre

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What the care home does well Medicines are usually checked and audited weekly to help make sure they are given to people correctly `as prescribed`. What the care home could do better: The organisation of the medicines round should be improved to help prevent the use of runners to give medicines. (A runner means the person giving and helping people take their medicines is not the same person that prepares, checks and records the medicines have been administered). This will help make sure medicines are given in the safest way. The competency of staff in handling medicines should be formally assessed to help make sure they have the necessary skills to do it safely. Random inspection report Care homes for adults (18-65 years) Name: Address: Vitalise Sandpipers Centre The Fairway Southport Merseyside PR9 0LA two star good service The quality rating for this care home is: The rating was made on: A quality rating is our assessment of how well a care home, agency or scheme is meeting the needs of the people who use it. We give a quality rating following a full review of the service. We call this review a ‘key’ inspection. This is a report of a random inspection of this care home. A random inspection is a short, focussed review of the service. Details of how to get other inspection reports for this care home, including the last key inspection report, can be found on the last page of this report. Lead inspector: Simon Hill Date: 0 6 0 5 2 0 1 0 Information about the care home Name of care home: Address: Vitalise Sandpipers Centre The Fairway Southport Merseyside PR9 0LA 01704538388 01704549764 sandpipers@vitalise.org.uk www.vitalise.org.uk Telephone number: Fax number: Email address: Provider web address: Name of registered provider(s): Name of registered manager (if applicable) Mr Darren Andrew Holloran Type of registration: Number of places registered: Conditions of registration: Category(ies) : Vitalise care home 38 Number of places (if applicable): Under 65 Over 65 0 0 dementia physical disability Conditions of registration: 38 38 The registered person may provide the following category/ies of service only: Care home with nursing- Code N To people of the following gender: Either Whose primary care needs on admission to the home are within the following categories: DementiaCode DE Physical disability- Code PD The maximum number of people who can be accommodated is: 38 Date of last inspection Brief description of the care home Sandpipers is a 38-bedded centre run by Vitalise. Vitalise is a national charity providing planned holiday breaks for guests people who use the service with physical disabilities and visually impaired people. It also offers planned breaks for carers for the purpose of this report the term carer refers to a family member or friend who has accompanied a Care Homes for Adults (18-65 years) Page 2 of 8 Brief description of the care home guest to the centre. Vitalise has five accessible centres in the United Kingdom. Sandpipers is located in Southport close to the town centre and with easy access to public transport and the beach. The centre also overlooks the marine lake. The centre is situated over the ground and first floor, the upper floor is accessible by stairs, covered walkway and spacious passenger lift. The centre has a balconied sun terrace, 2 lounges, dining room, bar and other recreational space with comfortable chairs on each floor. Sandpipers has 30 single rooms and 4 double rooms. All rooms have ensuite facilities. The centre has an excellent standard of equipment and environmental adaptations suitable for guests with disabilities however staff do ensure maximum independence is promoted for the guests. The centre continues to meet specialised nursing needs and at the same time provides a relaxed holiday break with a full range of social activities and events within very pleasant, comfortable accommodation.The fee rate for accommodation at the centre ranges from GBP460.00 - GBP1050 a week. Care Homes for Adults (18-65 years) Page 3 of 8 What we found: We carried out this visit to check how medicines were being handled because we found some shortfalls at the last inspection in December 2009. The visit was carried out by a specialist pharmacist inspector who observed the morning medicines being given to people, checked medicines records and stocks and spoke with four members of staff. Overall we found improvements in the way medicines records were made but still had concerns that medicines were not being given in the safest way because the nurse preparing, checking and signing for medicines was often not the person that gave and observed people take their medicines. We checked the stocks and records of several people and found clear, accurate records of medicines received into the home, given to people and disposed of. Medicines could be easily accounted for and regular checks were carried out to help make sure they were being given to people correctly. Photographs were now attached to all the medicines records following our advice after the last inspection, this is important because it helps make sure medicines are given to the right person. Information about peoples medicines was usually obtained in advance of them arriving but we found one medicine was not properly recorded because the dose had changed and staff had not identified it. We also found another current record did not accurately describe the medicine that was being given because it had not been properly written. Our checks of current stocks found some discrepancies that showed two doses of two different medicines had been missed and the checks and audits carried out by the home showed at least three other medicines in the last month had either been missed completely or had been given at the wrong dose. Missing medicines or giving them at the wrong dose can harm peoples health because it stops them working properly. We observed part of the morning medicines round in the main dinning room and found the records of medicines given to people were now being signed correctly after people had taken their medicines. This is an improvement from our last visit when we found medicines were often signed for in advance. However, we continued to see the use of a runner to give medicines, this means the person giving and helping people take their medicines is not the same person that prepares, checks and records the medicines have been administered. The use of a runner, either a nurse or carer, is normally used under exceptional circumstances and is not considered best practice because it can increase the chances of mistakes. We have advised the home on several occasions to stop this practice but found this advice had not been followed. The manager told us a new medicines trolley had been ordered that would help the medicines round to be split into two and he said the use of runners was currently under review to decide whether this practice was to stop. We looked at how staff were trained to safely handle medicines. Since our last visit changes had been to the medicines training program and we saw evidence of more training planned in the next month. However, we saw no formal assessments of staff competence including watching staff handle and administer medicines. We advised this following our last visit and in a subsequent meeting with managers but found no improvements. We continued to see efficient audits and checks that were carried out weekly that checked medicines stock and records in detail, these audits had identified mistakes and staff were usually made of aware of them to help prevent them happening Care Homes for Adults (18-65 years) Page 4 of 8 again. Regular training, formal competency checks and detailed audits help make sure staff have the necessary skills to handle medicines safely. What the care home does well: What they could do better: If you want to know what action the person responsible for this care home is taking following this report, you can contact them using the details set out on page 2. Care Homes for Adults (18-65 years) Page 5 of 8 Are there any outstanding requirements from the last inspection? Yes £ No R Outstanding statutory requirements These are requirements that were set at the previous inspection, but have still not been met. They say what the registered person had to do to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. No. Standard Regulation Requirement Timescale for action Care Homes for Adults (18-65 years) Page 6 of 8 Requirements and recommendations from this inspection: Immediate requirements: These are immediate requirements that were set on the day we visited this care home. The registered person had to meet these within 48 hours. No. Standard Regulation Requirement Timescale for action Statutory requirements These requirements set out what the registered person must do to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must do this within the timescales we have set. No. Standard Regulation Requirement Timescale for action Recommendations These recommendations are taken from the best practice described in the National Minimum Standards and the registered person(s) should consider them as a way of improving their service. No Refer to Standard Good Practice Recommendations 1 9 The organisation of the medicines round should be improved to help prevent the use of runners to give medicines. (A runner means the person giving and helping people take their medicines is not the same person that prepares, checks and records the medicines have been administered). This will help make sure medicines are given in the safest way. The competency of staff in handling medicines should be formally assessed to help make sure they have the necessary skills to do it safely. 2 12 Care Homes for Adults (18-65 years) Page 7 of 8 Reader Information Document Purpose: Author: Audience: Further copies from: Inspection Report Care Quality Commission General Public 0870 240 7535 (telephone order line) Our duty to regulate social care services is set out in the Care Standards Act 2000. Copies of the National Minimum Standards –Care Homes for Adults (18-65 years) can be found at www.dh.gov.uk or got from The Stationery Office (TSO) PO Box 29, St Crispins, Duke Street, Norwich, NR3 1GN. Tel: 0870 600 5522. Online ordering from the Stationery Office is also available: www.tso.co.uk/bookshop Helpline: Telephone: 03000 616161 Email: enquiries@cqc.org.uk Web: www.cqc.org.uk We want people to be able to access this information. 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