Montgomery Care Home

Updated 16 June 2023

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.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

Montgomery 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.

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 no registered manager in post. A new manager had recently been appointed and had applied to the Care Quality Commission to become the registered manager.

Notice of inspection

The 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. 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 8 people who used the service and 2 family members about their experience of the care and support provided. We spoke with the manager, 2 deputy managers, 3 care staff, the chef, laundry assistant, 2 maintenance staff and a visiting healthcare professional.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people’s care records and medication records. We reviewed recruitment records for 3 staff and looked at a variety of other records relating to the management of the service, including audits, policies, and procedures.

Updated 16 June 2023

About the service

Montgomery Care Home provides accommodation and personal care for up to 25 people; some of whom live with dementia. At the time of our inspection 20 people were using the service.

People’s experience of using this service

Risks to people were monitored and well managed to minimise the risk of avoidable harm. Staff were provided with guidance about how to manage risks associated with people's care and they monitored people’s safety in line with their individual risk management plans.

There were enough suitably skilled and experienced staff to provide people with safe care and support. The suitability and fitness of staff employed was assessed through a range of pre-employment checks before an offer of employment was made.

Safe infection prevention and control (IPC) measures were followed to minimise the risk of infection. The hygiene and cleanliness of the environment was well maintained.

Accidents and incidents were reviewed to establish how they occurred and how to prevent further occurrences, and any lessons learnt were shared with staff to promote their learning.

People told us they felt safe and well cared for by staff. Family members were confident their relative was kept safe.

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.

A new manager had recently been appointed and was supported by 2 new deputy managers. People and others shared positive feedback about improvements made to the service since the appointment of the new management team. Managers understood their roles and responsibilities and promoted a positive and person-centred culture with led to good outcomes for people.

Checks on the quality and safety of the service were carried out consistently and used to drive improvements where this was needed. People, family members and staff felt fully involved in the running of the service and the care provided.

Staff worked well together as a team, and there was good partnership working with others to meet people's needs. Staff morale was good, and staff felt valued.

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 January 2019).

At our last inspection we recommended that the provider review and monitor the effectiveness of their weekly quality assurance checks. At this inspection we found the provider had acted on this recommendation and had made improvements.

Why we inspected

This was a planned 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 comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Montgomery Care Home 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.