Castleview Care Home

At the start of the assessment, the service was managing an outbreak of a transmissible condition. This was not related to infection prevention and control practices within the home. As a result, our assessment activity, including site visits, was conducted over an extended period to support the safety and wellbeing of people, visitors and staff.

Castleview Care Home provides nursing and personal care for up to 49 people, including older and younger adults and people living with dementia. At the time of the assessment, 46 people were using the service.

The assessment was carried out due to the length of time since the service was last inspected.

There were sufficient staff deployed. During our visits, we observed care and support being carried out in a calm unhurried manner. The provider completed a range of pre-employment checks to help ensure staff were suitable for their roles. The provider supported staff development and career progression. They held a certificate of sponsorship, enabling the recruitment of overseas staff where required which helped to support workforce stability.

Continuity of care was supported by a stable staff team who knew people well. Many staff lived within the local Alnwick community and had established links with the area. In some cases, staff had known people for many years, which helped them to understand people's histories, preferences and support needs and enabled them to develop meaningful relationships. Where agency staff were required, continuity was maintained through the use of the provider’s own agency staff.

The environment met people's needs. There were suitable communal areas for dining and socialising, with access to outdoor space. Appropriate equipment was available to support people safely, including moving and handling equipment. The home had undergone refurbishment, with further improvements ongoing.

Staff worked in line with best practice when supporting people who experienced distress or whose needs could sometimes be expressed in ways that others might find difficult to understand. A health and social care professional told us, “Care is of a high standard and the staff I have met have a genuinely pleasant manner about them. The ethos in the home is clearly one that seeks to provide a high standard of care and remains interested to develop and evolve in line with current expectations of good practice.”

Formal complaints were recorded and responses provided. We identified an opportunity to strengthen oversight of concerns raised informally and to ensure these were recorded. This would help identify any recurring trends or themes and demonstrate how feedback had been used to drive improvements within the service.

Managers were visible within the service. At the time of the assessment, there was a registered manager and deputy manager in post, with additional oversight and support provided by the provider's leadership team, including the nominated individual and quality and compliance manager. During a period of temporary change in the clinical leadership arrangements, nursing staff worked collaboratively to maintain oversight of people's nursing care and treatment. This included guidance and support from the quality and compliance manager.

An electronic system supported oversight of quality and risk. Managers used information from audits, incidents, feedback and routine monitoring to identify improvements and track actions taken.