Speirs House

Updated 15 March 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

This inspection was carried out by an inspector, specialist advisor and Expert by Experience. The specialist advisor was a nurse. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Speirs House is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Speirs House is a care home with nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

Our first inspection visit was unannounced. We gave the service 24 hours' notice before our second visit.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we held about the service including the last inspection report and notifications. A notification is information about important events, which the provider is required to tell us about by law. 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 used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 7 people who used the service, 2 family members and a visitor. We also spoke with the registered manager and 7 staff members who provided care to people. We received feedback from the local authority's multidisciplinary team and also 1 other healthcare professional in relation to their experiences of working with this provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included people's care plans and risk assessments, medicines management procedures and staff files in relation to training and recruitment data. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits and policies were also reviewed.

Updated 15 March 2024

About the service

Speirs House is a care home providing personal and nursing care for up to 36 people. At the time of our inspection, there were 33 people receiving support with personal care. The service supports older people living with dementia and having nursing needs. The home is arranged over 1 floor.

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

Although staff knew how to identify and report abuse, some safeguarding incidents at the service were not escalated in a timely manner to keep people safe. This was a breach of Regulation 13.

There was a lot of change for the better made at the service since our last inspection. However, more improvement was needed to oversee the quality of care being provided. Although staff's recruitment was safely undertaken, the DBS checks were not repeatedly carried out to check staff's fitness for the job. We made a recommendation about this.

Records in relation to the mental capacity assessments and people's cultural and religious needs required reviewing. A new system for monitoring staff's performance on the job is to be implemented by the provider.

People felt safe because staff knew their care needs well. The staff team was stable and there was enough staff to meet the needs of the people they supported. Risk assessments were in place to guide staff on how to mitigate the potential risks to people. People received their medicines as prescribed. Staff were aware of how to effectively manage risks associated with infection control.

The home environment felt welcoming. Staff effectively shared information within the team to support people's well-being. Staff felt well supported in the job and received training relevant to their role.

There was a stable management team at the service to monitor the care being delivered to people. People told us they had effective communication with the management team. Staff were caring and kind to the people they supported, and their choices were adhered to.

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 28 June 2022) and there was a breach of Regulation 17 (Good governance). At this inspection enough improvement had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of Regulation 17 (Good governance). However, we found a breach of Regulations13 (Safeguarding service users from abuse and improper treatment).

You can read the report from our last inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Speirs House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service and when the service was last inspected.

This was a focused inspection and the report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective and Well-led. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

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.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.