Updated 7 October 2020
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 carried out by three inspectors.
We spoke with two people who used the service and telephoned four relatives to gain their experience of the care provided. We spoke with eight members of staff including, the two deputy managers, two senior carers, two carers, an activity organiser and a housekeeper. 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 six people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment. We also reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, quality monitoring and the deployment of staff.
Service and service type
Amherst Court is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a 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 did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. The service was being managed by two deputy managers. A manager had been appointed to commence management of the 21 September 2020. This means the provider was legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was to establish the safest and most appropriate way of carrying out our inspection visit during the covid-19 pandemic.
What we did before the inspection
We sought and received feedback from the local authority. We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with three people who used the service and telephoned four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with eight members of staff including the two deputy managers, two senior carers, two carers, an activity coordinator and a housekeeper. 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 two people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. We also reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, quality monitoring and staff deployment.