Russell Churcher Court

Updated 5 January 2021

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.

As part of CQC’s response to care homes with outbreaks of coronavirus, we are conducting reviews to ensure that the Infection Prevention and Control practice was safe and the service was compliant with IPC measures. This was a targeted inspection looking at the IPC practices the provider has in place.

This inspection took place on 18 December 2020 and was announced.

Updated 5 January 2021

About the service

Russell Churcher Court is a residential care home providing personal care and accommodation to 44 people (43 at the time of inspection), aged 65 and over. The majority of people living at the home were living with dementia

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

The registered manager had developed safe systems to ensure people received their medication as prescribed. People said they felt safe and comfortable. The registered manager had sufficiently skilled numbers of staff to deliver care in a safe environment. They had a good understanding of protecting people from harm or abuse.

The provider had an extensive training programme to develop their staff. A relative commented, "Staff are wonderful and really experienced." The registered manager monitored people against the risk of malnutrition. 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 supported this practice. Staff helped people to make their day-to-day decisions.

The registered manager placed people and their relatives at the heart of their care planning in the delivery of personalised care. One person said staff were responsive to their preferences. The provider's core values centred on optimising people's human rights and guiding staff to respect their individuality.

The registered manager assessed people's needs and created care plans with them to meet their individual requirements. The registered manager had a programme of activities for each person's stimulation. One individual stated, "There's plenty to do here for my needs."

The provider promoted inclusive, transparent care delivery to optimise people's experiences. One person stated, "[The registered manager] is fantastic. Their kindness is the most essential thing to me." The registered manager audited service delivery as part of their quality assurance oversight.

The service was well managed. When speaking about the registered manager, people said, "Wonderful manager" and "So well organised." Quality assurance processes ensured people received high quality care.

People, relatives and staff were positive about the running of the service and the support they received from the management team and providers. People and staff felt there had been improvements in all aspects of the service since the last inspection.

The management team were open and transparent. They understood their regulatory responsibilities. People and their relatives said the management team were open, approachable and supportive. There were effective governance systems in place to identify concerns in the service and drive improvement.

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 8 March 2019) and there were multiple 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

We previously carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service in January 2019. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do to improve safe care and treatment, recruitment procedures and governance of the service. This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

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

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.