Gainsborough Care Home

Updated 11 November 2021

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.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors and an 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.

Service and service type

Gainsborough Care Home 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 service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.

Notice of inspection

This 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 six people who used the service and six relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with nine members of staff including the registered manager, deputy manager administrator, senior care workers, care workers and domestic staff.

We reviewed a range of records. This included six people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits, policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data, policies and quality assurance records. We spoke with a professional who visits the service.

Updated 11 November 2021

Gainsborough Care Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to 44 people aged 65 and over. The service can support up to 48 people in one building, which is adapted for the needs of people with mobility difficulties.

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

At the previous inspection the home had demonstrated improvements in managing risks to people’s safety from unsecured furniture and auditing to identify and manage the risk. At this inspection we found evidence improvement in this area had been sustained and people were safe.

The registered manager had brought stability to the home and greater managerial oversight. People, relatives, staff and professionals were unanimous in their praise for the registered manager seeing them as pro-active, receptive and keen to encourage all to contribute ideas to drive further improvement.

People felt safe and happy living at Gainsborough Care Home. People were supported by staff who understood how to keep them safe from harm or abuse and knew their responsibility to raise concerns if they were to witness poor or abusive practice.

People and their relatives told us they felt there were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs in a timely and person-centred way. Our observations confirmed this.

People received their medicines on time and at the prescribed dose. Medicines were only administered by staff with the required training and competency assessments.

Staff felt recognised and told us management encouraged and supported them to progress. Staff and management told us they enjoyed working at Gainsborough Care Home and loved their jobs. Management told us they felt supported by the provider.

The home had a friendly, open and supportive atmosphere.

Good working relationships with other organisations such as local hospitals were helping the wider health and social care system at a time of significant pressures.

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 15 October 2020).

Why we inspected

We inspected Gainsborough Care Home to support creating more capacity in the local adult social care system. We undertook a focused inspection to check improvements made at the previous inspection had been sustained. As a result, we did an inspection of the Safe and Well Led key questions and our report only covers our findings in relation to those areas. No areas of concern were identified in the Caring, Effective and Responsive key questions.

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.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Gainsborough Care Home 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.