Camden Care Home

Updated 24 December 2020

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 team comprised of one inspector on site and an assistant inspector making phone calls to staff and people’s relatives off-site.

Service and service type

Camden 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 provider is legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission at the time of the inspection. The previous manager deregistered in October 2020. A new manager had been appointed and was due to commence employment within the month. An acting manager had been appointed in the interim.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We reviewed information received from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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.

During the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service. We spoke with nine members of staff including the providers, acting manager, deputy manager, senior care workers, care workers, the activities coordinator and the cook.

We reviewed a range of records. This included multiple care and medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We spoke with four people’s relatives and a further four staff by telephone. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 24 December 2020

About the service

Camden Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care. At the time of the inspection there was 16 adults using the service. Some were living with dementia. The service can support up to 18 adults. The accommodation is over two floors with communal areas provided on the ground floor.

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

People were not always protected against the spread of infection. Staff were not always following infection control policies and procedures. People were not always protected from risks. Environmental and individual risks, were not always assessed, to ensure appropriate action to minimise risks was taken. Governance arrangements did not provide assurance that the service was well-led.

People were happy with the support they received but all staff spoken with told us the staffing levels were not sufficient during the day. The provider addressed this in consultation with the staff.

People told us they liked the staff and felt safe with them. Staff told us they felt supported by the management team. Staff had received training and understood the procedure to follow to protect people from abuse. Staff followed people’s care plans and had received training. Staff who administered medicines were trained to support people and medicines were managed safely .The recruitment practices in place showed that appropriate checks were completed before staff started work.

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 on 27/09/2019).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to infection control procedures, a lack of equipment, staffing levels and the overall management of the home. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. 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.

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.

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 Good to Requires Improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

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.