19 October 2023
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Elm House Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care to up to 34 people. The service provides support to older people, people with a physical disability and people with a sensory impairment. At the time of our inspection there were 29 people using the service. The home is set over 2 floors with communal areas and a garden for people and their relatives to use.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Systems needed improving to make sure people were adequately protected from the risk of abuse and to make sure lessons were learned following mistakes. Risks to people’s health and wellbeing were not always assessed and mitigated effectively. Staff were not always recruited using safe processes. Although staff were experienced, they did not receive regular training to update their knowledge and skills, which we have made a recommendation about.
We found gaps in the governance processes of the service although this had been identified by the registered manager and provider prior to the inspection, and plans were being made to address.
People and relatives gave positive feedback, one relative said, “[My relative] is comfortable in Elm House, I can rest knowing they are being looked after.”
People were supported to take their medicines safely. The home was kept clean, tidy and comfortable.
People were supported to eat and drink healthily, and people commented that they enjoyed the meals. A relative said, “The food is very good,” another relative said, “My relative loves the meals and eats better than they did at home.”
The home had a comfortable atmosphere and people could decorate their rooms according to their personal preference.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
People and their relatives spoke highly of the managers and felt that any concerns would be dealt with effectively and in good time. Staff enjoyed their jobs, one person supported said, “The staff are brilliant, they are kind and caring and like to have a good laugh.”
The registered manager had plans to further his own knowledge and skills and worked well with external agencies.
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 20 July 2021).
Why we inspected
We received concerns in relation to managing people’s needs effectively should their health deteriorate, and staff training. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, effective and well-led.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.
The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe section of this full report.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
Enforcement and recommendations
We have identified breaches in relation to monitoring risks to be able to improve the service, assessing risks to people’s health and wellbeing and staff recruitment.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will request an action plan from 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 continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.