CQC Inspection At Park House: Inspectors Highlight Good Points and Room for Improvement

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) conducted an unannounced inspection of Park House, the Council's residential home, in September.The CQC's prime concern is the experiece of people using the service and feedback from Park House proved to be extremely positive. One comment in the report quoted a resident as saying: "It is paradise here as everything is top class."

Community Services chairman Richard McCarthy said: "This sort of feedback is a joy to hear and I'm glad that residents feel well looked after. Staff generally do an excellent job of maintaining a happy and homely atmosphere."

The CQC report published today (Tuesday November 20) highlights not just the good points in Park House but also areas for improvement. Out of 16 areas inspectors looked at, four were marked out for improvement. Improvement plans for these will be published on the CQC website in the next few days. No areas were singled out for enforcement action but among the areas for improvement noted by inspectors were the need to have more activities for those suffering from dementia and to have improved staff training.

Penny Penn-Howard, Director of Community Services, said: "We welcome the CQC's feedback, Many of the areas we had highlighted for improvement were also picked up by the inspection and it is good to see we are making improvements in the right areas. For instance, we now have an Active Living Coordinator working with Park House and the care team. Safeguarding training, highlighted in the report, was actually organised back in August and is taking place this week."

During the CQC's unannounced visit, HR records were not available for the inspectors to scrutinise. Penny Penn-Howard said: "We feel confident that the HR records are in good order as this has been a focus for all departments recently."

The inspection also happened to co-incide with the Registered Manager being away on holiday. Some supervision and training records were locked away so not all could be scrutinised. The supervision records that were available the inspectors felt were detailed and informative. The importance in Park House of regular supervision and training was highlighted by the inspectors and in fact a regular supervision and appraisal programme had already been implemented.

"This report clearly shows a need for improvement and I am glad to see that steps are being taken to address areas of weakness," said Councillor McCarthy. "However it does need to be stressed, as the CQC inspectors do, that the fundamentals of what the Council provides at Park House are truly appreciated by the residents."