Northlands Care Home (Northumberland)

The following is CQC's published account of its assessment, published 3 December 2024. References to “we” mean CQC. It describes findings at that time.

Date of Assessment: 20 November to 26 November 2024. The service is a residential home providing nursing care and support to older people, including people who may live with dementia, people with nursing needs, mental health conditions or physical disabilities. At our last assessment, we identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, meeting people’s nutrition and hydration needs, the need for consent, staffing, duty of candour and governance. At this assessment, improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations. Since the last assessment, the new manager and quality manager had introduced improvements to the service, including to records to ensure staff had guidance to meet people’s needs in a safe and person-centred way. Risks to people had been assessed and care plans were in place to help mitigate risks as far as possible. Accidents and incidents were investigated thoroughly, action taken, and lessons learned. There were sufficient trained staff who worked with other professionals to ensure people's needs were met in a safe and timely way. Staff were attentive and treated people with kindness and compassion. Improvements had been made to monitoring people’s nutrition and hydration intake to ensure they received sufficient and varied diet. We advised further improvements could be made to people’s dining experience to ensure people who may live with dementia were involved in decision making about a choice of meal. People, relatives and staff spoke positively about the service and management. Any incidents where Duty of Candour was required was carried out and apologies made as appropriate. This service has been in Special Measures since December 2023. The provider demonstrated improvements had been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.