Elsyng House Care Home

Elsyng House is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care. The home provides support to older people, some of whom may be living with dementia. One unit within the home specialises in providing care to people living with dementia. The home accommodates up to 76 people cross three floors. At the time of the inspection 74 people were living at Elsyng House.

Elsyng house is a new purpose-built care home based in Enfield, North London. The home was designed to fit in with the surrounding area and architecture. The home was designed to be as environmentally friendly as possible and was proud to be carbon neutral. Each person had a well decorated room with en-suite facilities. People had access to a large activity room, cinema, café area and a well-kept garden with a patio seating area.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People told us they felt the home was warm, welcoming and provided “Top notch” levels of care. Staff were said to be extremely kind and caring ensuring all of their care and support needs were met.

We found some concerns around the management of medicines using the electronic medicines management system. Following the inspection the provider took prompt action to address the concerns and sent us evidence of the actions they have taken.

Staff understood the principles of safeguarding and knew how to report any concerns. People’s risks were robustly assessed, and clear guidance given to staff on how to effectively keep people safe. Staff were recruited safely, and all relevant background checks completed before they started working at the home. Infection control was well managed, and staff had received training in infection control. During the inspection we found high levels of cleanliness throughout the home. There were no restrictions on visiting and we observed people having visitors throughout the inspection.

Staff were supported through regular supervision and appraisal. There were enough staff to ensure people’s care and support needs were met. People received a choice of food and there was a dedicated hospitality team who promoted choice. Staff were aware if any special dietary needs and this was provided. People were supported to attend routine medical appointments and were referred to healthcare professionals quickly if they became unwell or staff noticed a change in their usual presentation. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Staff were consistently praised by relatives and staff for their attentive and caring attitude. People felt respected and well-treated. People were treated as partners in their care and were fully involved in planning their care.

The home provided a range of activities for people to take part in both inside and outside the home. There was a designated activities coordinator who met with people to plan what they wanted to do. Activities were meaningful and helped people live fuller lives. There was a complaints system in place, people and relatives knew how to complain and were confident any concerns would be dealt with.

There was good governance of the home, and the registered manager promoted an open culture which provided good outcomes for people. There were numerous systems in place to gain people and relatives’ feedback. We saw multiple examples of where feedback had been used to improve the quality of care. There were auditing systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of care. Staff were positive about the support they received from manager to help them in their role.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 10 February 2021, and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.