Maria Residential Home

Updated 8 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

The inspection was carried out by a social care inspector.

Service and service type

Maria Residential Home provides residential? Suggest accommodation? and personal care for up to eight older people. At the time of our inspection there were seven people living in the service.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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

The inspection was unannounced, which meant they did not know we were coming to inspect the service.

What we did

Before the inspection we reviewed the information, we held about the service which included notifications they had sent us. Notifications are sent to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to inform us of events relating to the service which they must inform us of by law. We looked at previous inspection reports and reviewed the Provider Information Return (PIR). The PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection we spoke with seven members of staff including the registered manager; two service development officers, the proprietor, a senior care worker and two support workers. We observed staff interacting with people and supporting them.

We looked at records relating to the management of the service including two people’s support plans and associated records. We reviewed the medicine administration records for one person and inspected a staff file including recruitment records. We checked records of accidents and incidents. We reviewed minutes of meetings and a selection of quality assurance audits and health and safety records. We spoke with two people who lived in the service, a person who had used the service for respite care and their relative.

Updated 8 June 2019

About the service:

Maria Residential Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Maria residential home accommodates up to eight people in one adapted building. At the time of our inspection seven people were living there.

People’s experience of using this service:

Maria Residential Home is a family run organisation. At the time of our visit the service was going through a transition. The current registered manager was retiring, and the role was being handed over to one of the proprietor’s sons. Another son was taking over the role of nominated individual.

People’s views of the services included comments such as “It’s a lovely place, I would recommend it to anyone” and “Long may they (care staff) continue to give the care and consideration they do,” People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

However, we found a few areas that required improvements. These included adherence to the fire regulations, for example, not propping fire doors open and taking preventative measures to reduce the spread of potential fires. Other areas included the maintenance of records to ensure they were up to date and accurate.

Food was not always labelled in the fridge after opening. These all placed people at risk of harm. On the second day of our inspection we found most of the areas had been rectified. Plans were in place to address the remaining areas which could not be addressed immediately.

People told us they felt safe living in the home. Checks had been completed on essential safety apparatus such as safe water systems and hoists. Services such as gas and electricity had been maintained. People told us they were happy living in the service and had built up strong positive relationships with the staff. People were respected and treated in a dignified and caring way by staff.

People’s nutritional and dietary needs were assessed, documented and care was provided in line with their needs. External professional provided professional advice when needed.

People were treated equally by the staff. Training was provided to staff the area of equality and diversity.

Staff were trained and knew how to protect people from the risk of abuse. Where concerns had been raised these had been dealt with appropriately.

Activities were available to people. They told us they enjoyed them. This protected them from the risk of loneliness.

People received medicines from trained staff, however, we have made a recommendation about medicine administration. This is to ensure the service is up to date with current best practice.

We have also made a recommendation regarding the code of practice for the Mental Capacity Act 2005. This is to ensure records related to mental capacity assessments and the best interest process are produced.

Complaints were dealt with effectively and efficiently.

Staff told us they felt supported by senior staff. The staff in the service were caring. They told us they worked well as a team. They respected each other and supported each other. They received support from the provider and the registered manager. They also received support through regular training, supervision and team meetings.

We found a breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.

Rating at last inspection:

The last inspection the service was rated Good. (Published 10 November 2016)

Why we inspected: The inspection was part of our scheduled plan of visiting services to check the safety and quality of care people received.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service to ensure that people receive safe, compassionate, high quality care.

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