29 October 2020
During an inspection looking at part of the service
About the service
Darlington Manor Care Home provides residential care for up to 60 older people. At the time of inspection 32 people were living at the home, some of whom were living with dementia. Accommodation was spread over two floors, each with their own adapted facilities.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
At the last inspection we recommended the provider undertake a review of the risks to people’s health to ensure care records reflected those risks and, ensured medicines management followed national guidance.
At this inspection we found improvements had been made. The registered manager and provider had implemented all of the recommended actions from their last inspection and had improved how they monitored the quality of the service people received.
People and their relatives told us they felt safe and staff were supporting them well. One person told us, “Staff are marvellous!”
People's care and support needs were assessed. Records reflected people’s current needs. Medicines were managed safely. Close links with other professionals had been implemented to ensure people's physical and mental health needs were continually met with changes responded to quickly.
The home had a dedicated infection prevention and control champion who ensured national guidance was being followed. The registered manager monitored all areas of the home. This ensured high standards of infection prevention and control were delivered and that suitable supplies of personal protective equipment was available. Additional activities had been planned within the home to positively support people. People were supported to keep in touch with their relatives by telephone and video calls. The provider and staff communicated regularly with family members about the latest guidance and to update on their relative’s health.
Staff understood how to safeguard people from abuse. People's privacy and dignity was seen to be maintained. The staff team had the necessary skills to support people appropriately. Enough staff were on duty to respond to people's needs in a timely manner. No agency staff were working in the home. The registered manager used information from accidents and incidents to learn lessons. Staff were recruited safely.
The service was well led. The management team were praised by people, their relatives and staff, for their supportive approach. Systems were in place to monitor the quality of care provided and to continuously improve the service. The management team and staff worked extremely closely with health professionals to achieve positive outcomes for people’s health and well-being.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 7 December 2019). Two recommendations were made.
The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.
Why we inspected
We undertook this focused inspection to check the provider had followed their action plan and had made the necessary improvements to meet the recommendations. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe and well-led.
We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.
The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Darlington Manor Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.