St John's Care Home

Updated 28 August 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 team consisted of an inspector and assistant inspector 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

St John’s Care Home 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.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority. 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 six people who lived at the home and two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with a visiting community nurse. We spoke with the registered manager, operations manager, three care staff and the cook. 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 five people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two 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.

Updated 28 August 2019

About the service

St John’s Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care to 51 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The care home can accommodate up to 56 people in one adapted building.

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

There were enough staff available to meet people’s needs and staff had received appropriate training and support to ensure care was provided in line with best practice guidelines and legislation. The registered manager had ensured staff were safe to work with people living at the home. Staff were kind and caring and knew people and their needs well.

Care plans contained information about the risks to people while receiving care and where needed, equipment was in place to keep people safe. Medicines were safely managed. People were supported to eat safely and maintain a healthy weight.

Some care plans needed further information on how to tailor care to people’s individual needs and this had been identified as an action by the registered manager. However, staff’s knowledge of how people preferred to receive their care meant that the lack of recording did not impact on people. People received compassionate support at the end of their lives.

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.

The environment was pleasant and allowed people a choice of where to spend their time. The provider had plans in place to refurbish the upstairs area of the home to better support people living with dementia.

There were systems in place to monitor the quality of care provided. This included the monitoring of complaints and accidents and incidents as well as taking into account the views of people using the service. Where needed action was taken to improve the quality or care provided. The registered manager and staff worked collaboratively with other health and social care professionals to meet people’s needs.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 30 September 2016). At this inspection we found the provider had maintained the rating of good.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for St John’s Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.