Ticehurst Care Home With Nursing

Updated 25 September 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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors 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

Ticehurst is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (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.

What we did before inspection

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 reviewed information we held about the service, for example, notifications. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to tell us about by law. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection:

We spoke with 14 people who used the service, five family members and two professionals. We spoke with the registered manager, the general manager, one registered nurse and four staff members. We looked at the care records of seven people. We looked at four staff records, including training and recruitment records. We looked at other records to do with the management of the service.

After the inspection

We continued to gather information to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 25 September 2019

About the service

Ticehurst is a residential care home providing nursing and personal care for 81 people at the time of inspection who may be living with dementia.

Ticehurst accommodates up to 86 people in one purpose built building that is divided into two wings, one for nursing care and one for residential care.

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

The provider had systems and processes in place to manage medicines safely and protect people from the risk of abuse. Infection control measures were in place to minimise the risk of infection. The provider acted on or learnt from incidents, such as an incident highlighting the need for pre- admission assessments to be more detailed.

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 workers had developed caring relationships with people they supported. Staff respected people's dignity and privacy and promoted their independence.

People's care and support met their needs and reflected their preferences.

Management processes were in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service. There was a positive and open culture. The management team sought feedback from people, relatives and staff. Feedback was positive across all areas.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 17 February 2017).

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.