Valeries Care Home and Valeries Home Care

Updated 17 April 2024

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.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of 3 inspectors, and 2 Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. They contacted people's relatives for feedback about the service.

Service and service type

Valeries Care Home and Valeries Home Care 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.

Registered manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a newly appointed manager in post who was going through the process of registering with the Care Quality Commission.

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). 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 reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection, including notifications received from the provider. The law requires providers to send us notifications about certain events that happen during the running of a service. We sought feedback from the local authority and commissioners who work with the service. We reviewed the provider's website. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 8 relatives and 1 professional who visited the service. We spoke with 6 people who use the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 5 members of staff including the home manager, the operations manager and 3 support workers. During our inspection we observed care practices and the interaction between staff and people.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 4 people's care records and medication records. We looked at 4 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision, and a variety of records regarding the management of the service, including policies and procedures.

Updated 17 April 2024

About the service

Valeries Care Home and Valeries Home Care is a care home without nursing registered to provide accommodation and personal care for up to 15 older people. At the time of our inspection 10 people were living there. The home is a large, adapted building situated within a row of houses in a residential area of Crowthorne, Berkshire. The service offered ground and first-floor accommodation in individual bedrooms. The first-floor accommodation was accessed via a lift.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence, and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there was 1 person using the service who has a learning disability and or who are autistic.

People’s medicines were not always managed safely. Safeguarding incidents were not always investigated and managed effectively. The service did not always have effective infection prevention and control procedures in place. People were supported by staff who were suitable for the role. Feedback from people and relatives in relation to staff was positive.

People did not always receive person centred care. People’s mealtime experiences were not always positive. 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 received training appropriate to their role and the service worked well with external health and social care professionals to achieve good outcomes for people. We made a recommendation in relation to people’s mental capacity assessments.

The provider had not ensured effective systems were in place to oversee the service and ensure compliance with the fundamental standards. This meant people were not always protected from the risk of harm. The provider failed to notify the CQC of allegations of abuse. Duty of candour is the requirement for the registered person to be open and honest with people when something goes wrong. The provider failed to demonstrate duty of candour was followed.

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 good (report published 11 March 2020).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about people's safety, dignity, and infection control. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, effective and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Valeries Care Home and Valeries Home Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement and recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to person centred care, safe care and treatment, safeguarding service users from abuse and improper treatment, good governance, duty of candour and notification of incidents. We have made a recommendation to the provider regarding the assessment of people’s mental capacity. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

We recommend the provider ensures staff have the knowledge and skills to complete and document accurate assessments of people’s consent to receiving care and support.

Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.

Follow Up

We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will work with the local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.