Maple Manor Care Home

Updated 13 September 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 completed by one inspector.

Service and service type

Maple Manor Care Home 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. Maple Manor Care Home 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 not a registered manager in post. There has been no registered manager in post for over 18 months.

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 and professionals who work with the service. 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 all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We 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 talk with us. We spoke to four relatives of people who use the service.

We spoke with the operations manager, manager, three support workers and a cook. We reviewed a range of records, included in part, four people's care records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment, and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including incident records and analysis.

Updated 13 September 2022

About the service

Maple Manor Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care to up to 16 people in one adapted building. The service provides support to people who require support with personal care and people with learning disabilities. At the time of our inspection there were seven people using the service.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right support

The service provided people with care and support in a safe environment, however improvements were required to ensure the home was always clean and well-maintained. Further work was required to ensure people were supported to personalise their rooms.

Whilst the provider worked with people to plan for when they experienced periods of distress, the guidance was not always fully implemented by staff.

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. People were supported to engage in meaningful activities, including support to travel wherever they needed to go.

Staff supported people with their medicines in a way that promoted their independence and achieved the best possible health outcome.

Right care

People’s care, treatment and support plans did not always fully reflect their range of needs.

Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse because they received and understood training on how to recognise and report abuse. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to their individual needs.

The provider worked well with other agencies. People received kind and compassionate care.

Right culture

Whilst people received compassionate care, further improvements were required to ensure the staff always understood best practice in relation to specific needs people with a learning disability and/or autistic people may have.

The provider continued to work on reducing staff turnover which supported people to receive consistent care from staff who knew them well.

Where possible, people and those important to them, including advocates, were involved in planning their care.

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 requires improvement (published 3 November 2021). The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement for the last four consecutive inspections.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

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.

The overall rating for the service has remained requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well led sections of this full report.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Maple Manor Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.