Archived: The Old Vicarage

Updated 14 September 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This was a comprehensive, unannounced inspection, which took place on 19 June 2018. The inspection team consisted of three inspectors (one observing), one specialist advisor in nursing care and one 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.

We also looked at all the key information we held about the service. This included written notifications about changes, events or incidents that providers must tell us about.

We spoke with seven people who lived at the service, three relatives and a visiting social care professional; and we observed staff interaction with people. We spoke with the regional manager, one nurse and three care staff and domestic staff. We looked at three people’s care records and other records relating to how the service was managed. This included medicines records, meeting minutes and checks of the quality and safety of people’s care. We did this to gain people’s views about their care and to check that standards of care were being met.

Updated 14 September 2018

The Old Vicarage 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. The Old Vicarage accommodates 38 people in one adapted building. At the time of the inspection there were 36 living at The Old Vicarage.

The service had a registered manager. 'A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

At the last inspection carried out in December 2017 we found two breaches of regulations. Following the inspection the provider sent us an action plan telling us how they would address the breaches. At this inspection we found the actions taken had addressed the breaches and there were no new breaches.

We found systems and processes in place to keep people safe. These included ensuring risk assessments had been carried out to mitigate risk. Medicines were stored and administered as prescribed. Accidents and incidents were recorded and investigated and where possible actions were taken to ensure people’s safety. Staff were aware of their duty of care to protect people from abuse and were trained to recognise the signs of abuse. Risk of infection was mitigated as the provider had systems in place to ensure the premises were clean and fresh and staff had access to protective clothing.

There was sufficient numbers of appropriately recruited and trained staff to meet people’s needs and wishes. People had a pre-admission assessment to ensure the service could meet their needs. A care plan detailing their needs was drawn up and reviewed with the person or their relative where possible. This was done on a regular basis. The care plan gave staff clear directions on how to care for people.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice.’

People’s nutrition was promoted by ensuring fresh nutritious food was available and by referring people who had difficulty in eating to the appropriate health care professions.

People’s physical and mental health was promoted by working closely with health and social care professionals.

Care was delivered by staff who were caring, kind and compassionate. Independence was promoted and people had a variety of ways of making their needs and wishes known to the manager and staff. This included regular meetings.

Care was personalised and responsive to individual needs and wishes. There was a complaints process in place and people knew how to use it. The service received many complements on the service they offered.

The service was well led. The registered manager had a quality monitoring system in place. Aspects of the service such as risk to people, administering medicines and staff training were regularly reviewed. People told us the registered manager was approachable and easy to talk to.