Orchard House Nursing Home

We undertook this responsive assessment to check on specific concerns we had received about the peoples' safety and well-being, the culture and the management of risk in the service. The provider had recently added nursing care to their registration and appointed a new manager and clinical lead, which had resulted in concerns being raised.

We did not identify any significant issues during this assessment and the service has remained Good, with minor areas identified for continued improvement.

People received safe care and staff managed risks safely. People and staff told us they would feel confident to raise any concerns and that these would be responded to by the management team. There was an openness from staff that things had been difficult in the latter part of 2024, but with a new management team, they felt they could speak up and be listened to. The provider had liaised with external health professionals to provide joined up care and treatment for people. This had promoted safe transitions for people moving between different services. Staff and management knew people well and received an induction, training and support that enabled them to manage people’s health and social care effectively, and in a responsive way. Staffing levels needed to be reviewed to ensure they were sufficient to meet the increased needs of people. Staff treated people with kindness and compassion, and there was a positive and open culture in the service. Areas for improvement were identified regarding governance, and these were mainly in ensuring that changes to people’s health were updated in all areas of the documentation, some of which had already been identified by the manager and were being worked on. We received a full action plan with timescales during the assessment process. There were also ongoing improvement plans to make further improvements to the home.