Oaklands Care Home is situated in the Bessacarr district of Doncaster. It is registered to provide accommodation for older people who require personal care. It can accommodate up to 34 people. The service is near public transport and is in easy distance of the town centre and other amenities. At the time of our inspection 32 people were living at the home.

This comprehensive inspection was unannounced, which meant those associated with the home did not know we were coming. It took place on 11 December 2018.

At the last inspection in December 2016 the service was rated overall as good. You can read the report from our last inspections, by selecting the 'all reports' link for ‘Oaklands Care Home’ on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

At this inspection we found the service had remained good.

The service had a registered manager, who had been registered with the Care Quality Commission since May 2018. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons.’ Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The registered provider continued to make sure people were protected from the risk of abuse. The registered manager kept the staffing levels under review and responded positively to changes, to ensure there were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs. Medicines were well managed and records showed people received their medicines as prescribed. Assessments identified risks to people and management plans were in place to reduce the risks. The home was undergoing extensive refurbishment and redecoration and good progress had been made with this. Despite the building work, the standards of cleanliness was good and disruption was kept to the minimum.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Staff were aware of people’s nutritional needs and they supported people to have a healthy diet, with choices of a good variety of food and drink. People told us they enjoyed the meals. People’s physical health was monitored, so that appropriate referrals to health professionals could be made. Staff received training and support to ensure that they could fulfil their role. Staff we spoke with told us they felt supported by their managers.

There was a person centred and caring culture in the care team. (Person centred means that care is tailored to meet the needs and aspirations of each person, as an individual.) The service had a friendly atmosphere. Staff approached people in a kind and caring way and encouraged people to express how and when they needed support. The people we spoke with who used the service told us that they felt staff knew them well, and their likes and dislikes.

People told us there were activities and entertainment they could be involved in. We observed the activity co-ordinators undertaking group activities and one to one activities with people. People were supported in decisions regarding their end of life wishes. The complaints process was clear and people’s comments and complaints were taken seriously, investigated and responded to in a timely way.

Systems were in place which assessed and monitored the quality of the service, including obtaining feedback from people who used the service and these views were acted upon. The registered manager placed a lot of emphasis on listening to and involving people, those close to them, the staff and other professionals and on using opportunities for learning and improvement.

Further information is in the detailed findings of this report.

The inspection was unannounced, which meant the provider did not know we were coming. It took place on 15 December 2016. The home was previously inspected in April 2015 and was rated requires improvement.

Oaklands is a care home situated in the Bessacarr district of Doncaster. It is registered to provide accommodation for older people who require personal care and nursing care. It can accommodate up to 34 people. The service is near public transport and is in easy distance of the town centre and other amenities.

Since our last inspection a new manager had been appointed and is registered. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons.’ Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

We saw there were systems and processes in place to protect people from the risk of harm. Staff we spoke with were knowledgeable about safeguarding vulnerable people and were able to explain the procedures to follow should an allegation of abuse be made.

People’s needs were assessed and care and support was planned and delivered in line with their individual support plan. The individual plans we looked at included risk assessments which identified any risk associated with people’s care.

Systems were in place to ensure people received their medications in a safe and timely way from staff who had been trained to carry out this role. However, we identified some minor improvements could be made which were implemented on the day of our inspection.

We found the service to be meeting the requirements of the mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). The registered manager had a good understanding of the requirements.

People were supported to eat and drink sufficient to maintain a balanced diet. People we spoke with who used the service told us the food was very good and could choose what they wanted to eat.

There was sufficient staff on duty to meet people’s needs. Staff were provided with appropriate training, support and supervision to help them meet people’s needs.

Systems were in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service, including obtaining feedback from people who used the service and their relatives. Records showed that systems for recording and managing complaints, safeguarding concerns and incidents and accidents were well managed.

This was an unannounced inspection carried out on 8 and 9 April 2015. The service has a new provider registered in September 2014. This is the first inspection since the new provider registered.

Oaklands is a care home situated in the Bessacarr district of Doncaster. It is registered to provide accommodation for older people who require personal care and nursing care. It can accommodate up to 34 people. The service is near public transport and is in easy distance of the town centre and other amenities.

The home had a registered manager who had been registered in March 2015. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The provider told us the regional manager had registered and they were overseeing the service until the newly appointed manager commenced in the role on 30 March 2015 had completed their induction and probationary period. The new manager had previously been the deputy manager at the service. The provider told us the new manager would submit an application to register with the Care Quality Commission within the next three months and the regional manager would then de-register.

People we spoke with told us they felt safe living in the home and said staff were very good to them. One person told us, “I am definitely safe here.” We saw there were systems and processes in place to protect people from the risk of harm. Staff we spoke with were knowledgeable in safeguarding procedures and were able to explain what was required should an allegation of abuse be made. Assessments identified risks to people and management plans to reduce the risks were in place to ensure people’s safety.

Medicines were stored safely and procedures were in place to ensure medicines were administered safely. A new audit systems to monitor this was in the process of being implemented.

The requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) were in place to protect people who may not have the capacity to make decisions for themselves. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) sets out what must be done to make sure that the human rights of people who may lack mental capacity to make decisions are protected. The provider and the new manager demonstrated a good awareness of their role in protecting people’s rights and recording decisions made in their best interest. They were also aware of the new requirements in relation to this legislation. However not all staff we spoke with had a clear understanding of the requirements under this legislation The manager was aware of this and was accessing training.

We found people were cared for, or supported by, sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, skilled and experienced staff. However the training programme had not been fully implemented at the time of our visit. Staff told us they were supported; however, they had not received formal supervision since the new provider had registered.

Robust recruitment and selection procedures were in place to ensure appropriate checks had been undertaken before staff began work.

Suitable arrangements were in place and people were provided with a choice of healthy food and drink ensuring their nutritional needs were met. Most people we spoke with told us they enjoyed the food and there was always a choice. However the service we observed was slow and not all people were served their meal together.

People’s physical health was monitored as required. This included the monitoring of people’s health conditions and symptoms so appropriate referrals to health professionals could be made. People’s needs were assessed and care and support was planned in line with their individual care needs. For example we saw referrals had been made to various health care professionals, including speech and language therapists. However we found reviews of people’s needs had not always been documented appropriately in the care files.

We saw interactions between staff and people living in the home were kind and respectful to people when they were supporting them. Staff were aware of the values of the service and knew how to respect people’s privacy and dignity. People spoke very highly of the staff and the care they received.

Activities were provided. We saw people were involved in activities on the day of our visit.

We saw that complaints had been dealt with appropriately. People we spoke with did not raise any complaints or concerns about living at the home. Relatives we spoke with told us they had no concerns but would speak with the staff, the manager or the provider if they needed to raise any issues.

We found some issues relating to care records, that had not been identified thorugh an effective monitoring system. The provider had introduced new systems to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided. We saw copies of reports produced by the provider and the registered manager. The reports included any actions required and these were checked weekly to determine progress. Once fully implemented, the monitoring systems would cover all aspects of the service to identify any areas that required improvement.