Atholl House Nursing Home

Updated 19 April 2023

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

This was a targeted inspection to check on a concern we had about whether people were being supported to access medical attention when they required it.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Atholl House Nursing Home 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. Atholl House Nursing Home is a care home with nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at 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 registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

The inspection was unannounced. We visited the service on 20 December 2022.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the provider's last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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 took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During the inspection

We spoke to the registered manager. We looked at records including 6 people's care records and medicines administration records.

Updated 19 April 2023

About the service

Atholl House Nursing Home is a nursing home providing personal and nursing care to 48 people at the time of the inspection, across five units, some of whom were living with dementia. The service can support up to 84 people.

Peoples experience of using the service and what we found

People were cared for by staff in a way that kept them safe and protected them from avoidable harm. Enough staff were available to respond to people’s needs in a timely manner. , The management of people’s medicine had improved and people received their medicines when they needed them, and systems were in place to ensure that medicines were stored and administered safely and that adequate supplies were available. Accidents and Incidents were investigated, and measures were taken to prevent re-occurrences. The premises were clean, and staff knew and followed infection control principles.

The provider’s governance systems had improved since our last inspection, but these still needed time to show these has been successfully/effectively embedded. The registered manager and staff worked in partnership with other agencies to improve outcomes for people. The provider understood their duty of candour.

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 03 March 2021) there were multiple breaches of regulation. Following the last inspection, we issued a warning notice in relation to Regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 outlining the improvements we needed to see.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced focussed inspection of this service on 01 February 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider was issued with a warning notice in relation to Regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. After the inspection the provider produced an action plan outlining how they would improve.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had met the warning notice, followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

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.

We 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.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Atholl House Nursing 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 reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.