15 March 2023
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Amberley Care Home is a care home providing accommodation, personal and nursing care and the treatment of disease, disorder and injury. The service can support up to 72 older and younger people, living with dementia, mental health, physical disability and sensory impairment. At the time of the inspection there were 42 people living at Amberley Care Home.
The home is purpose built and provides care across 3 floors. At the time of this inspection the ground floor accommodated people mainly with nursing needs and the first floor was a residential unit for people with a diagnosis of dementia. The top floor of the home remained vacant.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Medicines were now managed safely, and competency assessments were carried out to monitor staff performance. Staff followed infection prevention and control guidance to minimise risks related to the spread of infection.
Risks to people were managed by staff following suitable risk assessments. Referrals were made to other services and health professionals when necessary. Systems were in place to safeguard people from the risk of abuse. Staffing levels were sufficient to meet people’s needs and staff were recruited safely. Conditions attached to Deprivation of Liberty (DoLS) authorisations were recognised, recorded in care plans and were being adhered to.
There was a new registered manager in post. They provided leadership to the team and promoted an open team culture. People, their relatives and staff spoke positively of the manager and the changes they had made in a short space of time. They had started the application process for registration with the Care Quality Commission and became the registered manager soon after this inspection. Staff said the registered manager was accessible and supportive. They confirmed they had seen improvements in the quality of the service provided to people and the morale of the team was higher.
Governance systems were in place to ensure oversight and monitoring of the home. The manager responded positively when we highlighted any concerns and recognised systems could be further improved. The manager was aware recent improvements needed to be fully embedded in staff practice and sustained.
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.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 12 December 2022) and there were breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last 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 COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.
We carried out an unannounced inspection of this service on 13 and 20 September 2022. Breaches of legal requirements were found, and a Warning Notice was served. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment and consent.
We undertook this focused inspection to check whether the Warning Notice we previously served in relation to Regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 had been met, to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective and Well-led which contain those requirements.
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 Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Amberley Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.