St Clare's Care Home

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 03 December 2020 and was unannounced.

Updated 5 January 2021

About the service

St Clare’s Care Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to 39 people at the time of the inspection. The care home can accommodate 40 people in one adapted building.

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

People were not always supported by adequate numbers of staff to meet their needs. The risks to people’s safety were assessed and measures in place to mitigate them.

People’s medicines were managed safely and the environment they lived in was clean. The provider had measures in place to protect people from possible abuse and responded positively to safeguarding issues.

People’s care was assessed in a person-centred way and staff had the guidance to provide this. However, the inconsistent staffing levels had sometimes impacted on the delivery of personalised care.

The registered manager undertook a range of quality audits to monitor the care people received. Relatives told us they were involved in their family member’s care, and staff worked with health professionals to support the people in their care.

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 August 2019). The provider was in breach of two of the regulations. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection enough improvement been sustained, and the provider was no longer in breach of those regulations.

Why we inspected

We undertook this focused inspection to follow up on concerns we had received and to check the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings related to the key questions safe, responsive and well-led which contain those requirements. 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 remained Requires Improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

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 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 Regulation 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Failure to provide sufficient numbers of staff to meet people’s needs.

We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.