Archived: Gower Gardens

Updated 30 July 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.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors, an Expert by Experience and a specialist advisor who was a qualified nurse. 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

Gower Gardens is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Gower Gardens is a care home with 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.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. 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 information gathered as part of monitoring activity that took place on 29 April 2022 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements. We reviewed on-going monitoring such as information received. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service and nine relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 11 members of staff including the registered manager, the deputy manager, the agency nurse, unit managers, care workers, a member of the domestic team and a member of the maintenance team.

We reviewed a range of records. This included seven people's care records and multiple medication records.

We looked at seven 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.

Updated 30 July 2022

About the service

Gower Gardens is a residential care home providing personal care to 59 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection.

The care home accommodates people across three separate floors, each of which has separate facilities. It provides care to older people, some of whom are living with dementia.

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

People had detailed risk assessments which guided staff to support people safely and mitigate risks. Care plans were detailed and outlined people’s support needs. However, we reviewed the records of one person who had diabetes and found records did not include a hyperglycaemia/hypoglycaemia rescue plan or the person’s normal range for their blood glucose reading.

People told us they felt safe and relatives told us they were confident their loved ones were supported safely.

Medication errors were addressed appropriately. Staff had medication training and received regular competency checks.

Staff were recruited safely. Staff had the required training to enable them to support people safely. Staff felt supported by the management team and felt comfortable raising any concerns. Staff received regular supervisions, spot checks and progress reviews.

Incidents and accidents had been recorded, investigated and appropriate action taken.

Infection prevention and control practices were safe, and the registered manager carried out regular checks on staff and audits.

People were supported to eat and drink. People were offered a variety of different food choices, and staff presented the food to them to enable them to make their own choice.

Staff worked with other professionals to ensure people received joined up care.

The design of the home was suited to the needs of people and people’s rooms were homely.

Audits were effective in identifying quality issues. The registered manager evidenced actions taken to resolve the issues identified by audits. People and relatives were encouraged to provide feedback on the service. The provider had an action plan which detailed improvements needed across the service. The action plan outlined who was responsible for individual actions and completion dates.

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.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 2 April 2020) and there were two breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. We received concerns in relation to medication and the systems and processes in place for restraint. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, effective and well-led only.

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.

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

Follow up

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