Burnley care home wins praise from government inspectors

News of the report from the Care Quality Commission was being celebrated by staff and residents at Acorn Heights in Manchester Road and a spokesman for the management team sent out a message of thanks to everyone saying: "We would like to thank everyone who worked alongside us to gain our good CQC report.

"We have all worked very hard over the past 12 months which reflects in our report.

"We are very proud of our home and the standard of care we deliver."

The home was rated as inadequate in August, 2016 and when inspectors visited the premises in April last year their findings demonstrated there were six continued breaches of the regulations in respect of the assessment and management of risks, care planning, environment, Deprivation of Liberty processes, recruitment processes and quality assurance systems.

Inspectors asked the management team at the home, which was formerly known as Sunhill Care Home until June, 2017, to complete an action plan to show what they would do to improve the service.

The clinical commissioning group medicines' optimisation team and local commissioners of services worked with the management team and staff on the improvement programme and during the latest inspection, which took place last month, the CQC said the improvements had been made and all regulations met in terms of the home being safe, providing an effective and caring service which was responsive and well led.

A spokesman for the CQC said: "During this inspection we found new quality assurance and auditing processes had been introduced to help the provider and the registered manager to effectively identify and respond to matters needing attention.

"The systems to obtain the views of people, their visitors and staff have been improved and people felt their views and choices were listened to and they were kept up to date with any changes."

The management team were praised for working hard to introduce much needed changes and improvements and the report stated that residents were happy with the improvements that had been made and considered the service was managed well.

Inspectors said that residents were happy with the personal care and support they received and made positive comments about the staff.

The inspector said: "People told us they told us they felt safe and happy in the home and staff were caring.

"People were comfortable in the company of staff and it was clear they had developed positive trusting relationships with them.

"Staff understood how to protect people from abuse."

The report stated that records relating to people's care and support had improved and the information in people's care plans was sufficiently detailed to ensure they were at the centre of their care. Care and support was kept under review and individuals are involved in decisions about their care.

The report said that risks to people's health and safety had been identified, assessed and managed safely and relevant health and social care professionals provided advice and support when people's needs changed.

Improvements have also been made to ensure the home was a clean, safe and comfortable place for people to live in and the recruitment of new staff had improved with a safe and robust procedure in place to ensure new staff were suitable to care for vulnerable people.

The CQC said that people's medicines were managed in a safe manner and residents had them when they needed them. Staff administering medicines have also received training and supervision to do this safely.

The report also pointed out that people were supported to have "choice and control" over their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and the policies and systems in place supported this practice.

Staff were described as respecting people's diversity and promoted residents' rights to be free of discrimination.

Residents also have access to a range of appropriate activities both at the home and in the community, nutritional needs were monitored and reviewed and there was a choice of meals.

The inspector said: "People told us they were happy and did not have any complaints.

"They knew how to raise concerns and were confident they would be listened to."