Archived: Claremont House

Updated 13 October 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 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

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

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post. The registered manager was also the provider.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

Inspection activity started on 26 September 2022 and ended on 27 September 2022. We visited the location’s service on 26 September 2022 and 27 September 2022.

What we did before the inspection

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

During the inspection

We spoke to six people about living at the service and spent time observing staff support people. We spoke to five members of staff including the registered manager, deputy managers and carers. We reviewed four people’s care records and multiple medication records. We also saw a range of documents relating to the quality assurance processes at the service. We received feedback from two health professionals that worked regularly with the service.

Updated 13 October 2022

About the service

Claremont House is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to up to 20 people. The service provides support to older people, some of whom were living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 18 people using the service.

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

Improvements were needed to aspects of record keeping. Although people received their medicines safely, medication administration records (MARs) were not always transcribed accurately. Medicine audits did not always identify issues with recording. Although staff knew people's support needs well, some care plans contained conflicting information about the support people needed. Staff needed to make improvements to how they respond to feedback from people that use the service to ensure they were fully involved.

People were supported by staff that knew them well and understood any risks to people. There were enough staff to support people and staff had been safely recruited. Staff followed infection prevention and control measures and the home was clean and hygienic.

People were positive about the support they received from staff and told us they enjoyed living at the home. Staff supported people to be as independent as possible. The culture of the home was calm and friendly and staff worked together to ensure people were empowered to spend their time how they chose. Staff were positive about the management of the service and told us they felt supported. Health professionals that worked regularly with staff to support people were positive about the attitude and knowledge of the staff team. 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.

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. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

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 28 January 2020).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has remained the same based on the findings of 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.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.