Ardale’s Oakham Grange care home in Rutland taken out of special measures by Care Quality Commission

A care home has been taken out of special measures but still requires improvement according to inspectors.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) made an unannounced visit to Oakham Grange in July, just three months after its previous inspection, to see if steps had been taken to improve after the Barleythorpe home was rated inadequate.

The home, run by Ardale, was rated ‘good’ after its first-ever inspection in March 2022, but after this April’s inspection, it was served with warning notices for breaches relating to safe care and treatment, staffing, and governance.

However, inspectors this time found improvements had been made and were ongoing, and it was no longer in breach of regulations apart from governance, with record keeping still identified to be inconsistent.

Its rating was raised to ‘requires improvement’ in all key questions of safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led.

The report said staffing had increased, with more nursing staff on day and night duty, and new unit clinical service managers had been appointed. More training had also been provided for all care and nursing staff.

The report also found the management team to be ‘open and honest’ and recognised ‘further improvements were required’, while people and staff were positive about the new manager.

Inspectors found improvements had been made in response to concerns over meal choices, as well as medicine management, while ‘lessons learnt processes’ had been further developed.

Oakham Grange’s senior management team were pleased steps they had taken had helped to improve their rating.

“Although we felt some of the points raised in the previous inspection at the end of June were, we felt harshly judged, it did not stop us taking on board some important lessons,” their statement read.

“These included appointing nurse qualified clinical services managers for each of the home’s three distinct resident households, double-checking clinical competency assessments and a programme of additional staff training, including our new electronic care records software.

“We urge everyone to study the full report as large portions of it reads as a ‘good’ home, however, as improvements are still new they cannot be justified as fully embedded.

“Most pleasing are the very positive comments from our residents and their families.

“We are a family-run care service with a small number of bespoke homes. We take very seriously our care ethos to ensure each one in our homes is supported with dignity, warmth and personality, by a well-trained care and nursing team.”