St Fillans Care Home

This inspection report for St. Fillans Care Home covers visits made in September 2022. The report details findings across five key areas: safety, effectiveness, caring, responsiveness, and leadership. While immediate actions were taken by the provider to address issues found during the inspection, the overall governance and some care practices require improvement. This summary highlights the key findings from the report to help families understand the service's current performance.

Regarding safety, initial inspections revealed significant concerns with infection prevention and control practices, including the improper handling and storage of personal protective equipment, and issues with the cleanliness of the premises and equipment. Although these were swiftly rectified following the inspection with a deep clean and improved procedures, the internal auditing systems had not initially identified these shortcomings. Furthermore, care records sometimes contained conflicting information, and behaviour support plans lacked sufficient detail, potentially putting residents at risk.

In terms of how effective the care is, the report noted that the environment in some units, particularly the complex care unit, did not always promote residents' quality of life or help them live well with dementia. There were also inconsistencies in mealtime experiences, with residents on some units not always being offered choices of food or drinks, and mealtimes not always being a sociable experience.

Looking at the caring aspect, residents and their relatives generally spoke positively about the staff, with improved communication and morale noted. Staff were observed working well with external health professionals and engagement activities were being supported by networks like Essex FaNs.

In terms of responsiveness, the service had been divided into four units, with a recommendation made to improve the environment for people living with dementia. There were also recommendations for staff training on dementia care and enhancing the mealtime experience for residents. Frequent changes in management had been unsettling, but the current team was viewed positively.

Finally, concerning how well-led the service is, while the new management team was seen as a positive development, governance systems were not always effectively used to identify and drive necessary improvements. Audits had not pinpointed issues found during the inspection, and there was a lack of clear direction for staff regarding meaningful activities. Despite these areas for development, the service regularly reviewed staffing levels, recruited new staff, and ensured good access to healthcare and safe medicine management.