Peartree Care Home

Updated 27 March 2021

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

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors and an 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.

Service and service type

Peartree Care 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.

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

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was to ensure we understood the provider's infection control protocols and agree what precautions the inspection team would take to reduce the risks to people using the service.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we held about the service, including information about serious incidents the provider is required by law to notify us about. We contacted the contract monitoring officers from two local authorities.

During the inspection

We made observations on all four units of the service, including looking at infection control and risk management procedures. We looked at records of care for five people and medicines management for six people. We reviewed records relating to health and safety, engagement with people and their families and records of staff meetings and handover. We spoke with the registered manager, a team leader, the head of business improvement, the Regional Quality & Development Manager and a visiting health professional. We reviewed records of recruitment for five staff members and looked at records relating to health and safety.

After the inspection

On 10 March 2021 an Expert by Experience carried out video calls to eight people who used the service and five of their family members. We made calls to two registered nurses, three team leaders and two healthcare assistants. We spoke with a pharmacist who worked with the service.

We asked the provider to send us information that we could review after the inspection to help us minimise time spent on site. These included records of audit, staffing allocations and policies and procedures.

Updated 27 March 2021

About the service

Peartree Care home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 70 people. At the time of the inspection, there were 61 people living there. The accommodation was spread over four floors. There were communal lounges and dining rooms on each floor and a garden

People’s experience of using this service

People told us they felt safe living in this service and well supported. A person told us “They are nice people, I can’t praise them enough”.

The provider operated suitable systems to assess risks to people’s wellbeing and take appropriate actions to mitigate these. Safeguarding procedures were used effectively to prevent people from abuse and avoidable harm. The service worked with local partners to ensure the safe management of medicines. Staff were safely recruited and deployed to meet people’s needs. Managers reviewed incidents to ensure that lessons were learned when things had gone wrong and were open and transparent about their findings.

There were suitable measures to protect people from COVID-19, including the appropriate use of protective personal equipment (PPE) and access to testing and vaccination. The service was prepared to ensure family members could visit safely and used video calling. The service e was clean and hygienic throughout, with enhanced cleaning of frequently touched surfaces to protect people from cross infection.

The service engaged positively with people and their family members to keep them informed about changes to the service and to encourage participation in the daily life of the home. The service took account of people’s equality characteristics to ensure people were fully engaged. There were improved systems of audit to assess the performance of the service and systems of communication to make sure people understood their responsibilities and share information appropriately. The service had successfully delivered an action plan to address previous concerns and was committed to continuous improvement.

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 4 December 2019).

Why we inspected

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 24 September 2019. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had 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 inspection was prompted in part by notification of a specific incident, following which a person using the service sustained a serious injury. The information CQC received about the incident indicated concerns about the management of risks from equipment. This inspection examined those risks.

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.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Peartree Care 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 re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.