Archived: Martin House

Updated 24 January 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 09 January 2017 and was unannounced. One inspector carried out the inspection. This inspection was completed to check that improvements to meet legal requirements planned by the provider after our comprehensive inspection in May and June 2016 had been made. We inspected the service against one of the five questions we ask about services: is the service safe. This is because the service was not meeting legal requirements in relation to that question.

During the inspection we reviewed the staff recruitment records for three nurses and five care staff working in the service.

Updated 24 January 2017

This unannounced inspection took place on 09 January 2016. The last inspection of the service took place on 25 May and 02 June 2016. We rated the service as Good overall but identified one breach of Regulation 19 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulation 2014 as the provider did not always obtain references for new staff before they started to work with people using the service. This may have placed people at risk of unsafe or inappropriate care. At this inspection we checked the provider’s recruitment records to make sure they included checks the provider completed before new staff started work in the service. We found the provider had taken action and improved the way they carried out checks on new staff to make sure they were suitable to work with people using the service.

This report only covers our findings in relation to this topic. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for ‘Martin House’ on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Martin House is a care home providing residential and nursing care for up to 75 older people, some living with the experience of dementia.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

During this inspection we found that the provider followed their recruitment procedures and obtained two references for all staff working with people using the service, as well as carrying out other checks on their suitability. Staff we spoke with confirmed the provider completed recruitment checks before they were allowed to work unsupervised with people using the service.