Updated 26 June 2019
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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team: This inspection was carried out by one inspector. A quality and contract monitoring officer from the local authority also attended.
Service and service type: The service is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and we looked at both during this inspection.
The service had a manager registered with the CQC. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection: This inspection was unannounced.
What we did: Before we inspected the service, we reviewed information we held about the service, to help inform us about the level of risk for this service. Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information is called a Provider Information Return and helps support our inspections. We also contacted the local safeguarding team, commissioners and Healthwatch to request their views of the service. Healthwatch is the independent national champion for people who use health and social care services.
During the inspection, we reviewed three people’s care records and three medication administration records. We also looked at a selection of documentation in relation to the management and running of the service. This included quality assurance audits, complaints, accident and incident records, recruitment information for two members of staff, staff training records and policies and procedures.
We spoke with two people who used the service and one relative. We spoke with two members of staff, the activities coordinator, cook, registered manager, nominated individual and two visiting professionals.
We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.