17 October 2023
During a routine inspection
Charlotte House is a care home with nursing for up to 60 older people. At the time of our inspection, 47 people were living at the service. Some people were living with the experience of dementia, and some were being cared for at the end of their lives.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The provider's systems for assessing, monitoring, and mitigating risk had not always been implemented effectively. For example, risks related to medicines management, infection prevention and control and safe storage of cleaning products. Following our inspection visit, the provider took action to mitigate the risks we identified and improve systems for monitoring these risks in the future.
People were happy living at the service. Their relatives were also happy. People felt safe, well cared for, and liked the staff. They were able to make choices and felt these were respected.
There were suitable systems for dealing with safeguarding alerts, accidents, complaints, and incidents. Staff learnt from these to prevent them reoccurring.
People received personalised care which met their needs and reflected their preferences. They were involved in developing and reviewing care plans. People had access to a range of external healthcare services and had enough to eat and drink. There were a range of organised activities. Visitors were welcomed at the home and able to spend time with people living there.
The staff were well trained and given the support and information they needed to care for people safely and well. There were systems to help make sure staff were suitable to work at the service. People told us staff were kind, caring and polite. We observed this and noted people had good relationships with staff who knew them well.
There were effective systems for monitoring and improving the quality of the service. The management team were open and responsive to people's views. Stakeholders were asked about their opinions of the service.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
For more information, please read the detailed findings section of this report. If you are reading this as a separate summary, the full report can be found on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was good (published 16 May 2018). In January 2022, we carried out a targeted inspection looking at the infection prevention and control measures. We did not award a rating at this inspection.
Why we inspected
We carried out the inspection based on the date of the last inspection.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.