Normandy House

Updated 19 October 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.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. 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 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

Normandy House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a 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

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority. 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 used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service and 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 communicate verbally with us. We spoke with four relatives and next of kin of people living in the service. We spoke with four members of staff including the registered manager, senior care staff and care staff.

We reviewed a range of records. This included aspects of three people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment processes. A variety of records relating to the management of the service including quality assurance checks, health and safety records, meeting minutes and finance records were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at updating care records and additional health and safety information. We spoke with a health professional who visits the service.

Updated 19 October 2021

About the service

Normandy House is a residential care home providing personal care and support to four adults with a learning disability. The service can support up to six people in one adapted building.

Normandy House is a family sized property in a residential area which looks similar to other houses on the street. It is located in the suburbs so transport is required to access community resources and the town.

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

Improvements were required to ensure care records reflected people's current risks to ensure staff knew how to provide safe care and support. Some medicine recording required strengthening to ensure staff knew when to administer medicines safely and record all relevant information in line with best practice guidance.

Improvements were needed to quality assurance processes to ensure they were completed within the provider's timescales and identified issues which needed action. The registered manager was committed to ensuring people received good quality care in line with the Right support, right care, right culture guidelines and followed up promptly on issues brought to their attention.

People received safe care and were supported by a consistent team of staff. Safe recruitment processes were in place. Processes were in place to ensure lessons were learned when things went wrong.

Infection prevention and control measures were in place including sufficient stocks of personal protective equipment (PPE) to reduce the risk of cross infection.

People living in the service, relatives/next of kin and staff had opportunities to contribute their views. Positive feedback was received about communication between staff and relatives. Relatives knew how to make a complaint if they needed to.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right Support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

Based on our review of the key questions Safe and Well-led, the service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support:

• People were supported to have choice and control of their lives. People were starting to be able to do activities they enjoyed again, and meet more often with family and friends, following the lifting of the pandemic restriction.

Right care:

• People were cared for safely. We found some issues with documentation which needed to be strengthened.

Right culture:

• The registered manager and staff promoted a positive and open culture. When issues were brought to the attention of the registered manager they were dealt with appropriately. Relatives knew how to make a complaint and felt any concerns would be taken seriously.

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 13 November 2019). In March 2021 we undertook a targeted inspection which only looked at the area of infection prevention and control. This did not impact upon the last rating.

Why we inspected

We received some concerns in relation to management and staff practices in the service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

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.

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.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Normandy House 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.