Stone House Nursing Home

Updated 7 June 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

This was a targeted inspection to on a concern we had about the safe management of medicines.

Inspection team

One inspector led the inspection remotely and the visit to the service was carried out by a medicines inspector (pharmacist specialist).

Service and service type

Stone House Nursing Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Stone House Nursing Home is a care home with nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used this information to plan the inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager and two senior nurses who had responsibility for medicines management within the service. We looked at medicines storage and disposal arrangements as well as observing a medicines administration round. We also reviewed a range of associated records including five people's current medicine administration charts, the staff training matrix and medicines audits completed by the provider.

Updated 7 June 2022

About the service: Stone House is a residential and nursing home that was providing personal and nursing care to 33 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection.

People’s experience of using this service:

•The provider continued to provide a good service. People told us they liked living at Stone House and they felt safe. One person told us, “Yes I do (feel safe) and I can trust the staff.” One relative told us, “I have never seen a member of staff get impatient in the two years I have been coming here.”

The service met the characteristics for a rating of “good” in all the key questions we inspected and achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’ in responsive. Therefore, our overall rating for the service after this inspection was “good”.

• People were always protected against avoidable harm, abuse, neglect and discrimination.

• People’s risks were assessed and strategies put in place to reduce the risks.

• People experienced positive outcomes regarding their health and wellbeing.

• Staff received good supervision and training, which provided them with the knowledge and skills to enable them to provide good care.

• Care was exceptionally person-centred and focused on ensuring people with dementia lived as independent lives as possible. The care was designed to ensure people’s maximum independence was encouraged and maintained.

• There was a workplace culture that was open and honest. Staff told us they felt supported by the manager and they could speak with them at any time.

• People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this.

More information is in our full report.

Rating at last inspection:

At our last inspection, the service was rated “good”. Our last report was published on (5 July 2017).

Why we inspected:

• This inspection was part of our scheduled plan of visiting services to check the safety and quality of care.

Follow up:

• We will continue to monitor the service to ensure that people receive safe, compassionate, high quality care. Further inspections will be planned for future dates.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk