Scarlet House

Updated 21 December 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

This 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.

Scarlet 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 all the information we had received about this service since the last inspection. This included information of concern, information from the provider and feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was asked to complete a provider information return in April 2021, and we reviewed this PIR. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 16 people who used the service and nine relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 15 members of staff including the regional director, registered manager, deputy manager, clinical lead, unit managers, team leader, activity co-ordinator, care assistants, a chef, agency care workers, a nurse, maintenance manager and administrator.

We reviewed a range of records. This included eight people’s care records and medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at records relating to the management of the service and quality assurance records.

Updated 21 December 2021

About the service

Scarlet House is a nursing care home providing personal and nursing care for up to 86 older people and people living with dementia. At the time of our inspection 54 people were living at Scarlet House.

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

The registered manager had a clear vision for the service and spoke positively about the changes they needed to make. The provider had organised additional support for the service whilst the new management team settled, and they were working together to complete their service improvement plan.

We found some improvements were needed to ensure some people’s risk assessments and risk management plans were accurate and updated; for example, people’s risk of choking needed to be reviewed and updated as their needs changed. This would ensure that staff had up to date care records to refer to when supporting people. The provider had identified this as an area that required improvement through their own quality monitoring. Some time was needed for the registered manager to complete their improvement plan before we could judge it to be effective in bringing about the required improvements.

People and their relatives told us people felt safe living at Scarlet House. The provider was monitoring and reviewing the staffing levels to ensure sufficient numbers of staff remained deployed to meet people’s need.

People were supported to receive their medicines safely and as prescribed.

Staff understood their responsibility to report concerns and poor practices. People told us that staff were kind and caring.

People had access to a range of activities and events organised by the service’s lifestyles team.

Care and nursing staff spoke positively about the service and felt they were supported and engaged in the running of the service by the new management team.

The service had infection control processes and systems in place to reduce the risk of people contracting COVID-19.

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 March 2019).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to people’s safety. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led.

We also looked at the key question of Responsive as at the previous inspection this was rated Requires Improvement.

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 remains Good. 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.

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

Follow up:

We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.