Updated 19 July 2023
Inspection team
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.
As part of this inspection, we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.
Inspection team
The inspection was carried out by three inspectors, a specialist advisor and pharmacy inspector. The specialist advisor was a nurse with experience of older people’s care.
Service and service type
Tower Bridge Care Centre 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 we looked at both during this inspection.
Registered Manager
This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.
At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post
Notice of inspection
This inspection was unannounced, but we announced the second day.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included any significant incidents that occurred at the service. 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 reviewed the previous inspection report and actions plans submitted after that inspection. We contacted the local authority commissioning team to obtain feedback. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
Inspection activity started on 31 March 2023 and ended on 9 May 2023. We visited the service location on 31 March 2023 and 4 April 2023. 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 spoke with the registered manager, the regional manager, 6 nurses and 5 care workers and other members of the senior management team. We also spoke with 6 people using the service and 4 of their relatives. We also contacted all relatives via email after our inspection and received feedback from 8 of them.
We reviewed a range of records, both on and off site. This included 15 people’s care records, numerous medicines records and 10 staff files in relation to recruitment. We also reviewed records related to the management of the service, which included incident reports, quality assurance records and minutes of staff meetings.
We carried out observations throughout the day in relation to infection prevention and control procedures and staff awareness of best practice.