Archived: Ebberly House

Updated 11 December 2019

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

The inspection was completed by one inspector, a member of the medicines team and an expert by experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Ebberly House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

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

This inspection was unannounced and completed over three days.

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 and health and social care professionals who work with the service. 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. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection-

We spoke with the registered manager, assistant manager, provider, four care staff, one housekeeping staff and one kitchen staff.

We also spoke with 14 people living at the service and four relatives.

We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection –

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We spoke with two health and social care professionals who regularly visit the service.

Updated 11 December 2019

About the service

Ebberly House is a residential care home providing personal care to and support to 15 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 19 people.

Ebberly House is a large end of terraced house with bedrooms on three floors and stair lift to access all floors.

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

People and their relatives said Ebberly House provided people with safe, compassionate and respectful care and support. Comments included, “This is a really lovely home, people all lovely, very giving and forgiving, and very supportive, encouraging, sincere. Everything more than you can ever expect from any person.” One relative said, “Staff are wonderful.”

Most risks to people's safety were assessed and managed well, however this was not always the case. Risks from hot water outlets had not always been fully audited. Also individual personal evacuation plans had been developed but were not easily accessible in the event of an emergency. Following feedback the registered manager and provider acted swiftly to address these areas.

We found the audit for medicines needed some improvement and issued a recommendation. There was no direct impact and low risk for people. By our next visit to the service, the audit had been improved.

Since the last inspection the registered manager and the deputy had completed in-depth training in understanding people’s rights. 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.

There were sufficient staff with the right skills and support to meet people’s needs and wishes.

People enjoyed a variety and choice of meals. Their healthcare needs were closely monitored and the service worked in partnership with other professionals to achieve good outcomes for people, including end of life care.

Staff provide a varied programme of activities taking into consideration peoples past and their hobbies and interests. Some staff came in on their own time to provide extra visits and support to enable people to access the local community.

People, staff and family found the registered managers approach to be open and inclusive. The service used various methods to ensure peoples views were heard and acted upon.

Rating at last inspection and update: The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 27 November 2018 ) and there was a breach 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 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.