Queensgate Residential Care Home

Updated 7 June 2022

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.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Queensgate Care 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. Queensgate Care Home is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

Inspection activity started on 17 February 2022 and ended on 28 February 2022. We visited the location’s service on 17 February 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the 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 used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with two relatives of people who use the service and two people who use the service. We spoke with the registered manager and the business manager. We checked areas of the premises in relation to infection control and maintenance. We reviewed a rage of documents including four people’s care record and associated risk assessments. We reviewed a sample of medication records and three staff files in relation to recruitment.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We spoke with three staff members by telephone and another relative by telephone. We reviewed training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 7 June 2022

About the service

Queensgate Care Home is a care home that provides accommodation and personal care for a maximum of 40 older people, including people who may live with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 28 people using the service.

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

Areas of the service required redecoration, refurbishment and maintenance. The décor looked tired. Whilst some areas within the service provided sensory and tactile stimulation, the main lounge and dining area was not decorated in line with dementia friendly guidance. The provider did not have a refurbishment and redecoration plan in place to identify and plan required works to the premises.

Not all staff received adequate supervision. The registered manager had not had a formal supervision for the duration of their employment. The provider did not have robust recruitment processes in place. We have made a recommendation about this in the inspection report.

Accidents and incidents were not effectively monitored to consider lessons learnt and reduce risks to people.

Quality assurance systems were not operated effectively and failed to ensure compliance with regulations. The registered manager and provider could not demonstrate satisfactory oversight of the safety and quality of the service because records were not always kept and maintained.

People told us they liked the staff and felt well cared for. People’s relatives felt their relatives were safe.

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 in the service supported this practice.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 27 December 2018)

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to infection control and the premises. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement. 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. This included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvement. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

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

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.