St Martins of Tours Housing - 158-162 New North Road

Updated 4 March 2022

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by a single inspector.

St Martins of Tours Housing - 158-162 New North Road is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. St Martins of Tours Housing 158-162 New North Road is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR) in May 2021. This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

We also looked at other information that we had received, such as notifications which the provider is required to submit if particular events occur.

During the inspection-

We spoke with one person using the service, the deputy manager, registered manager and director of operations.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s risk assessments as well as four people’s medicines records as well as other audit and assessment information covering the day to day operation and monitoring of the service.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 4 March 2022

About the service

St Martins of Tours Housing -158-162 New North Road Is a residential care home providing support to people living with enduring mental health difficulties and a history of illegal substance and / or alcohol abuse issues. There were fifteen rooms for people situated across three floors. There were eleven people using the service at the time of this inspection.

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

A person who spoke with us told us that the service was much improved. They had used this service before and since returning they felt it was a very different place to live, they felt much safer and thought their recovery would be greatly helped by this.

Much had improved at the service over the last two years. Oversight and management was thorough and there was transparency in sharing information with people using the service and stakeholders.

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.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was Unrated (Published 04/11/2020) but previously had been rated as Requires Improvement. At this inspection the rating has changed to Good.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service to verify if improvements had been made. We also 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. This included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for St Martins of Tours Housing - 158-162 New North Road on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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