Background to this inspection
Updated
19 November 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. 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 Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
One inspector, an assistant inspector and an Expert by Experience carried out this inspection. 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
Cartlidge House 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.
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
This inspection was unannounced.
What we did before the inspection
The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
We asked the local authority and Healthwatch for any information they had which would aid our inspection. Local authorities together with other agencies may have responsibility for funding people who used the service and monitoring its quality. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with seven people who used the service and two relatives. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.
We spoke with ten members of staff including, the registered manager, operations manager, five care staff members and three activity coordinators. We also spoke with two visiting health care professionals.
We reviewed a range of records. These included three people’s care and support plans. We also looked at people’s records of medicines administration. We had sight of one staff member’s file in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. In addition, we looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including quality monitoring checks and incident and accident records.
Updated
19 November 2019
About the service
Cartlidge House provides accommodation and Nursing or personal care for up to 54 people. On the day of our inspection, 43 people were receiving services, some of whom were living with dementia.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People did not always receive safe care and support as staff members did not always follow the guidelines in place to safely support people.
Staff members had not always been provided with the training they needed to safely support people.
People’s care and support plans did not always give the necessary information to staff to respond to their needs and preferences.
The providers quality checks were not always effective in identifying improvements which were needed to drive good care.
People were protected from the risks of harm and abuse as the staff team had been trained to recognise potential signs and understood what to do to safely support people.
Staff members were aware of the necessary actions they should take in the event of an emergency.
Staff members followed effective infection prevention and control procedures when supporting people. Staff members had access to, and used, appropriate personal protection equipment.
People received safe support with their medicines by staff members who had been assessed as competent.
The provider supported staff members through structured one-on-one supervision sessions.
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 at Cartlidge House supported this practice.
People had access to additional healthcare services when required.
People were supported to maintain a healthy diet by a staff team which knew their individual preferences.
People received help and support from a kind and compassionate staff team with whom they had developed positive relationships.
People were supported by staff members who were aware of their individual protected characteristics like age, gender and disability.
The provider had systems in place to encourage and respond to any complaints or compliments from people or those close to them.
The provider, and management team, had good links with the local communities within which people lived.
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 ‘Good’ (published 18 April 2017).
Enforcement
We have identified one breach or regulations in relation to people not being safely supported.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will request an action plan for 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 return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.