Imperial Court

Updated 27 October 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.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is bought or rented and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care.

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 notice period of the inspection. This was to ensure we and the provider could manage the risks of COVID-19. Inspection activity started on 09 September 2021 and ended on 17 September 2021. We visited the office location on 09 September 2021.

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 quality team and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

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.

During the inspection

We spoke with one person who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff, including care staff, team leaders and the registered manager.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and medicines records. We looked at a variety of records related to staff training and supervision and multiple records relating to the management of the service, including audits and policies and procedures.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at information related to risk management, quality assurance and the governance of the service.

Updated 27 October 2021

About the service

Imperial Court is a complex of 41 sheltered apartments. People who live at Imperial Court have the option of receiving personal care in addition to support with housekeeping and social activities. There were 19 people receiving personal care at the time of our inspection.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.

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

People were supported by staff who knew them well, had adequate training and were recruited safely.

Medicines were managed and administered safely. Staff supported people to manage their health needs.

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.

Care plans were detailed and included people’s holistic needs. The care people received was person-centred. People had been involved in planning their care and felt able to speak up if they had any concerns or wished to make changes to their care.

Staff were supported by a management team who were open and transparent. Staff felt supported and told us they could give feedback or suggestions to the registered manager and their views would be listened to.

Systems and processes were in place to support the provider and registered manager to have effective oversight of the service.

However, we found improvements were required to ensure all required areas had been risk assessed accurately and that agency staff profiles were up to date. The registered manager took immediate action to rectify these areas of concern.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 07/05/2019 and this is the first inspection. The last rating for the service under the previous provider was Good, published on 18/08/2017.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection to provide a first rating of the service since their registration.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe section of this report.

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