11 May 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Fort Horsted Care Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 30 people. The service provides support to older people. At the time of our inspection there were 24 people using the service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People’s medicines were not always well managed. Some medicines administration charts had not been completed fully to evidence people had received their medicines as prescribed. One person’s emergency medicine was out of date.
Risks to people were not always well managed. One person was at risk of harm because staff had not followed the risk assessment in place to prevent them from injury. We reported this during the inspection and immediate action was taken to ensure the person was safe.
Most staff had been recruited safely to ensure they were suitable to work with people. One staff member did not have a full employment history recorded on their employment records. People had regular staff who they knew well. Staff were well supported by the management team.
The service was not always well-led. The management team carried out the appropriate checks to ensure that the quality of the service was continuously reviewed, improved and evolved to meet people’s changing needs. However, some of the checks had not been robust enough to identify areas of concern found at the inspection. The provider and registered manager took immediate action to address this.
The registered manager promoted an open culture. If people or their relatives wanted to complain they knew how to do so. People told us they were happy living at the service. Comments included, “I feel happy and I am comfortable at Fort Horsted”; “They are supporting me to get better and stronger” and “Staff are friendly enough. They met with me to talk about my care needs.”
People were protected from abuse and avoidable harm. 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
The last rating for this service was good (published 18 April 2020).
Why we inspected
We undertook this focused inspection as part of a random selection of services which have had a recent Direct Monitoring Approach (DMA) assessment where no further action was needed to seek assurance about this decision and to identify learning about the DMA process.
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 Fort Horsted 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 managing medicines safely at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.