Enter and view: The Fountains Care Centre

Healthwatch Salford carried out an Enter and View visit to the Fountains Care Home, a residential care home with places for up to 98 residents.

The home was evaluated against eight quality indicators: strong, visible management; staff with the time and skills to do their jobs; good knowledge of each individual resident and how their needs may be changing; a varied programme of activities; quality, choice and flexibility around food and mealtimes; ensuring residents can regularly see health professionals such as GPs, dentists, opticians or chiropodists; accommodating residents’ personal, cultural and lifestyle needs; and being an open environment where feedback is actively sought and used. 

findings

Authorised representatives conducted interviews with 4 members of staff at the care home. Topics such as quality of care, safety, dignity, respecting and acknowledging the resident’s and families’ wishes and staff training were explored. Authorised representatives also approached 5 residents at the care home to ask them about their experiences of the home and, where appropriate, other topics such as accessing health care services. 2 family members were also spoken to as they were with residents at the time.

A proportion of the visit was also observational, involving the authorised representatives walking around the public/communal areas and observing the surroundings to gain an understanding of how the home works and how the residents engaged with staff members and the facilities. There was an observation checklist prepared for this purpose.

At the time of the initial visit the Fountains Care Centre had recently undergone a change in ownership. The new owners, SPV4 Ltd requested that Healthwatch’s visit was postponed to embed new policies and procedures in with staff. This was taken into consideration, but it was felt that the visit should still go ahead as the findings can be used to assist the owners with any future improvements.

Healthwatch Salford’s conversations with staff, residents and relatives highlighted issues around:

• The ranges of activities for residents to take part in and the availability of staff to support these;
• The need for more visible leadership so that everyone can identify who the manager is;
• Staff training and teambuilding;
• Environmental areas of the home that need refreshing/repairing and general upkeeping.

Recommendations

• Activities – the home should look at a more varied, robust and inclusive programme of activities that is widely advertised with support measures put in place to ensure that the delivery of activities are not compromised when general staffing numbers are low.
• Senior Leadership Visibility – picture boards should be displayed in each unit and at reception that easily identify who the Manager is.
• Care Plans (pre-admission) – the home should liaise with Social Care to improve the quality and accuracy of information supplied at preadmission.
• Care Plans (in house) – residents’ in-house care plans should be regularly updated and staff reminded of the importance to refer to these for any changes.
• Training – all staff training should be reviewed with staff supported to access e-learning and other training modules.
• Environment – the home should work towards replacing the floor coverings of the EMI dementia unit to ensure that these areas can be kept as hygienically clean and odour free as possible.
• Environment – the home should work towards a programme of redecoration including all stairwells and corridors.
• Call bells – the home should look at procedures for staff attending to call bells so that they can identify which residents need support more quickly and without confusion.
• Staffing – the home should look at staffing to ensure there is adequate cover for all roles without compromising other functions.

The care provider responded positively to the report with detailed responses to the recommendations. 

Healthwatch Salford carried out a follow up visit to the care home on 26 June 2018 and noted that most of the recommendations had been implemented.