The Elms

Updated 10 May 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team: The inspection was completed by one inspector 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:

The service had two managers that were 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. The provider, registered manager and staff team did not know we would be visiting. We carried out the site visit of the inspection on 24 April 2019.

What we did:

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection in October

2016. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about.

We assessed the information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection, we spoke with seven people, four relatives and a health care professional. People looked relaxed and comfortable with the staff who supported them. We spoke with three care staff, the registered managers and the provider. We received feedback from two professionals prior to our inspection. You can see what they told us in the main body of the report.

We reviewed a range of records. These included two people's care and medication records. We also looked at two staff files around staff recruitment, training and supervision. We reviewed records relating to the management of the home and, training and supervision for the all staff.

Updated 10 May 2019

About the service: The Elms is a residential care home without nursing and provides care and support for up to 22 older people. On the day of our inspection there were 22 people living in the home. There were 20 single occupancy bedrooms and one shared room.

People’s experience of using this service:

Risks to people's health, safety and wellbeing were assessed. Support plans were put in place to ensure these were reduced as much as possible. People were protected from potential abuse by staff who had received training and were confident in raising concerns.

There was a thorough recruitment process in place that checked potential staff were safe to work with people living at The Elms. Staff were provided with the training, supervision and support they needed to care for people.

People received care, which met their needs. Guidance was in place to support people consistently and in the way, they wanted. Care plans were informative. People had access to other health care professionals when they needed it.

People were supported to pursue their interests and hobbies, and social activities were offered. Staff went the extra mile to support people meeting their aspirations. People were provided with food and drink to maintain their health.

Staff knew people well. They were caring and showed compassion in their approach. People and their relatives expressed their satisfaction with the care. People felt confident to talk about any concerns that they may have.

The service was well led. There were suitable quality assurance systems in place to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service provided.

Rating at last inspection: Rating at last inspection: Good (report published December 2016).

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating from the last inspection. The service remained rated Good overall.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk