St George's Witham Nursing Home

St George's Witham Nursing Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 40 people. The service provides support to older people and people with nursing care needs, some of whom may be living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 33 people using the service.

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

The provider’s processes for monitoring the quality and safety of the service were not robust and did not always identify areas of concern. The provider had not ensured all staff were appropriately trained and received regular supervisions to support their learning and development.

Risks to people’s safety were not always assessed and documented and people’s care plans lacked detail about their choices and preferences for support. It was not always clear how people and those important to them were involved in the care planning and review process.

People’s medicines were managed by staff who were trained to administer them; however, amendments to people’s medicines records were not always documented correctly. Staff followed safe infection prevention and control practices and the service was in the process of a full refurbishment programme to ensure it was safe, hygienic, and better adapted to meet people’s needs.

Staff were aware of how to recognise and raise safeguarding concerns. People and relatives felt comfortable making complaints or raising any issues with the registered manager. Staff were safely recruited with appropriate checks completed prior to starting work.

People were supported to take part in different social activities; however, there was a lack of information about how to fully engage and support people to enjoy personalised activities of their choice.

People were supported by staff who knew them well and we received positive feedback about the kind and caring support provided by staff. 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.

People, relatives, and staff spoke positively about the culture of the service and the approachability of the registered manager. The provider worked positively with other healthcare professionals to adapt to changes in people’s health needs promptly.

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 the service under the previous provider was good [published 22 November 2019]

Why we inspected

We carried out this inspection as the service had not been inspected under the current provider. The inspection was also prompted in part due to concerns received about oversight at the service and the management of medicines. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

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 have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to staff training and management oversight at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.