A CARE home in Cwmbran has received its most recent Care Inspectorate Wales report following an inspection in August.

The team of inspectors found that the people live in “a comfortable and homely environment” and are considered satisfied by the care they receive.

There was particular praise for the “meaningful way” that care workers are dedicated to engaging with the residents to work out how best to support them, with the atmosphere helping to foster a feeling of “belonging and familiarity” in the care home community.

Inspectors reported that family visitors referred to staff as “wonderful” and said they “couldn’t fault the care” given to their relatives. Familial relationships are also allowed to develop with private meeting areas available.

Care workers are able to effectively provide support to maintain peace and reduce stress and anxiety in residents, ensuring that everyone is “treated with dignity and respect” with specific needs tailored to where required.

This includes each resident having their own personal emergency evacuation plan (PEEP) in place. The environment and outside spacing is suitably adapted for the residents to freely access the outdoors whenever they please.

The manager and their staff are praised for being “dedicated to their roles” with the manager maintaining a frequent presence.

Inspectors welcomed the evidence of the manager having the determination to take “continuous and positive steps to improve the service” and were also pleasantly surprised to find “a marked improvement in the delivery of staff supervision since our last visit”.

Despite these positives, there were also areas for concern. The main issues here were the lack of resident engagement with care plans, meaning they do not include “outcomes important to them” and that feedback given is not always recorded or acted upon.

Inspectors felt people are not always “safe from harm” with a lack of support available to improve their wellbeing, and “insufficient medication procedures” meaning there could be serious implications for residents’ health due to missed or incorrect medical treatment.

Although staff are “suitably trained” there was concern that not all of them have the appropriate safeguarding training and that some fire evacuation procedures are not robust enough or appropriate. In one case, a fire exit was obstructed.

Inspectors say they have been reassured “these issues would be rectified” with immediate action. They did take note that some work had already been undertaken by the manager to improve the robustness of the medication procedures, but stressed this must be improved as a priority.

Inspectors say the staffing numbers in relation to resident levels is currently not of an appropriate level and must “adapt to the changing needs” of people to ensure they are cared for appropriately and in a manner that leaves them feeling that they are able to achieve personal goals.

The main areas for major improvement identified were the mishandling of medication and the lack of residential engagement with care plans.

Improving safety, fire evacuations and general procedures for oversight were cited as minor issues, with inspectors wanting to see a considerable improvement in all areas upon their next visit.