Working at Fernhill House

Serious issues storing creams safely and giving hidden medication without proper mental capacity checks or permissions.

not all topical creams were stored securely. There were no risk assessments for paraffin based topical creams. Some topical creams had no prescription labels or open date. One person received their medicines covertly. However, there was no evidence of the provider following best interest decision processes where medicines were administered covertly. We found that 3 people's DoLS had expired.

Manager in post but quality checks and audits missed problems like overdue records and safety gaps.

Governance and quality assurance at the service were not always effective. The provider's systems and processes such as regular audits of the service had failed to identify issues found during this inspection. Some care plans and risk assessments were overdue.

Staffing is adequate and enough to meet needs, but nothing special like low agency use or great team stability.

People were supported by a sufficient number of staff. Most people and their relatives told us there were enough staff to meet people's needs. Staff said there were enough of them to meet people's needs.