Archived: Ridgway House

Updated 12 January 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.

Service and service type

Ridgway 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

We gave a short period notice of the inspection. This supported the service and us to manage any potential risks associated with Covid-19.

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.

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with five people who used the service and three relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with ten members of staff including the manager, area manager, senior care workers, care workers and domestic staff.

We reviewed a range of records. This included seven people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including 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 and quality assurance records.

Updated 12 January 2021

About the service

Ridgway House is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care for up to 35 people with dementia, mental health, physical disabilities and sensory impairments in one adapted building. At the time of the inspection 25 people were using the service.

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

Risk assessments required improvement. Not all known risks to people had documented risk assessments in place. However, staff knew people well and knew what to do to keep them safe.

Medicine administration required improvement. Medicine administration records did not always contain enough detailed instructions on them to ensure staff had all the relevant information to give medicines as prescribed.

Oversight of the service required improvement. Not all concerns found on inspection had been identified. The provider had recently completed an audit and was in the process of putting actions into place to improve the quality. However, this had not been completed during the inspection.

People were supported by kind staff who knew them well. All staff had been safely recruited and received regular support from the management team.

People were protected from abuse, systems and processes were in place to identify and report any abuse or harm.

People were protected from infection. Staff wore appropriate personal protective equipment and the home appeared clean and odour free.

Complaints were dealt with appropriately and people knew how to complain if they needed to.

The management and staff were open and transparent throughout the inspection. They agreed to ensure changes were made to improve the service.

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 26 April 2019)

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about care and support. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this 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 coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Ridgway House 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 discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We have identified breaches in relation to risk assessments, medicines and oversight of the service at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.