Care home to act on advice of watchdog
ARUNCORN dementia facility has been told it ‘requires improvement’ after a watchdog reported regulations breaches relating to accuracy of care records and the effectiveness of monitoring and auditing.
St Luke’s Care Home on Palacefields Avenue was graded ‘good’ in three categories, for safety and how caring and responsive it is, but was told it needs to improve how effective it is and leadership.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said the facility has 54 single bedrooms and had 52 residents at the time of the inspection.
It looks after older clients with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia and is owner by Widnesbased Community Integrated Care.
Inspectors reported that service users’ health needs were met and medicines administered appropriately.
Staff also supported residents to attend appointments and liaised with general practitioners as required.
The CQC said systems were in place to monitor quality but were not always effective.
Its inspection report said St Luke’s was safe and clients were looked after by staff with ‘robust’ recruitment practices in place.
Concern was raised over care plans not being updated in line with monthly reviews and the CQC said audits had been ‘ineffective’ in dealing with changes to nutritional assessments and shortfalls in staff supervision, appraisal and training.
Community Integrated Care had said it has taken action to address issues raised by the CQC.
Peter Dillon, the company’s transformation and quality manager, said: “Community Integrated Care is committed to providing quality care, so we take this report seriously.
“(The) CQC’s inspection found that St Luke’s has many positive characteristics, as a safe, caring and responsive service.
“However, it also identified that some areas required improvement.
“It found that we should improve our catering for people on specialist diets, and our recording of bodyweight and dietary information.
“Prior to the inspection we were already piloting a new food offer.
“This has since been implemented at St Luke’s and we have received highly positive feedback.
“The report also found that staff appraisals had not been delivered as frequently as expected and that the registration of our new care home manager had taken too long. “The registration of the manager is now well underway and staff feel fully engaged and supported.
“St Luke’s has been recognised in recent years for delivering good care and making a real difference to the local community.
“It has recently been recognised for its engagement with family mem- bers at the National Dementia Care Awards.
“We are absolutely ded- icated to ensuring that it delivers the best possible standards in the future.” ●