• Care Home
  • Care home

St Christopher's Care Home

Overall: Outstanding read more about inspection ratings

Ascot Priory, Priory Road, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 8RS (01344) 884079

Provided and run by:
Ascot Residential Homes Limited

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 1 March 2022

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 the COVID-19 pandemic we are looking at how services manage infection control and visiting arrangements. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection prevention and control measures the provider had in place. We also asked the provider about any staffing pressures the service was experiencing and whether this was having an impact on the service.

This inspection took place on 14 February 2022 and was announced. We gave the service one working day notice of the inspection.

Overall inspection

Outstanding

Updated 1 March 2022

About the service

St Christopher's Care Home is a care home without nursing that provides accommodation with personal care for up to 25 older people. At the time of our inspection there were 17 people living in the home.

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

The staff and management team showed a genuine and in-depth understanding and compassion for people they supported. They continuously encouraged improvements and innovation to benefit people in the service. The staff team always tried to enable people to express their own views ensuring people received the care they needed and wanted.

Staff understood their roles and responsibilities, were motivated, and had confidence in their management and senior staff team. Moreover, they were supportive of each other to ensure people received excellent care. The management team placed a great importance on ensuring everybody was treated as an individual and received person-centred care. They had worked hard and had established a strong and visible person-centred culture. The service encouraged and sustained contacts with the local community, external resources and support groups.

The management team spoke with great passion about the care and support they provided to people and their families. They encouraged staff to go the 'extra mile' when supporting people and that was reflected in the feedback received from people and families. Staff were motivated to provide care with much kindness and consideration. People and their families felt they really mattered to the whole staff team.

We observed staff were respectful, considerate and incredibly positive towards people and their relatives. It was paramount to the service to ensure people's wellbeing was respected and protected. People and relatives confirmed staff always respected their privacy and maintained their dignity. People benefitted greatly from living at a service that had a very open and welcoming culture.

The service continued to provide end of life care with a great care and compassion. People and their families were always supported with the utmost consideration and understanding to ensure their decisions and preferences were taken into account. Staff continued to be skilled and attentive to deliver high-quality care following people's and families wishes ensuring they were comfortable. The provider and the registered manager always continued to ensure appropriate facilities and support were available to people, those who were important to them and staff, during the care and after the person's death. They continued to work with other professionals who praised the quality of the service and the care provided.

People were able to engage in a wide range of meaningful activities and maintain regular links with the community. People reported they really enjoyed getting involved in activities and outings because it made them feel busy and useful. People’s choices were always respected by attentive and understanding staff, who were continuously researching for creative and innovative ways to ensure people lived their lives to the full. The whole staff team were very responsive to the needs of people and enabled them to improve and enjoy their life.

The management team had quality assurance systems and were able to identify issues and any improvements necessary. They praised the staff team for their dedication and hard work and appreciated their contribution in ensuring people received the best care and support.

People felt safe while supported by the staff who had the relevant knowledge and confidence to identify safeguarding concerns and acted on these to keep people safe. The management and staff team recognised, reviewed and explored better ways of working when things went wrong. The registered manager ensured there were enough qualified, skilled and knowledgeable staff to meet people's needs at all times. The service had an appropriate recruitment procedure to follow before new staff were employed to work with people. The service assessed risks to people's personal safety, as well as those to staff and visitors, and actions were taken to minimise those risks. There were safe medicines administration systems in place and people received their medicines when required. There were contingency plans in place to respond to emergencies.

The management team had planned and booked training when necessary to ensure all staff had the appropriate knowledge to support people. Staff felt supported by the registered manager and senior staff, which helped maintain great team work. The management and staff team monitored people's health and wellbeing and took appropriate action when required to address concerns.

People received support that was individualised to their specific needs. Their needs and support plans were kept under review and promptly amended as changes occurred. 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 interest. 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

The last rating for this service was Good (published 23 November 2016).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.