Maxey House Residential Home

Maxey House Residential Home is a residential care home providing personal care to 21 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The care home can accommodate up to 31 people, in a 30-bedroom building, some of whom live with dementia. Maxey House Residential Home is an old building with extensive grounds.

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

Systems to monitor how well the service was running required further improvements to ensure that oversight and governance is effective and robust. The provider needs to ensure that incidents are reported appropriately.

Lessons learnt were shared with the staff team. Incidents and accidents were reviewed, and reflections considered as to what could be done differently.

The staff team had recently expanded to include permanent senior staff and an activity worker. This was following an extended period of utilising temporary staff. This was a positive improvement for the service, and now required a period of stability to ensure that people living at the service were supported by staff who know them.

People received their medicines and staff knew how these should be given. Medicine records were completed accurately and with enough detail.

Staff followed infection control procedures and used the appropriate personal protective equipment, which included aprons and gloves. The building was clean and free from clutter.

Staff liked working at Maxey House Residential Home and felt supported by the registered manager. The registered manager was passionate about delivering a good service to people. They were open and honest and looked for ways to improve the service.

Staff and the registered manager worked with other professionals to ensure that people received the necessary care and support.

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.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 30 September 2022) and there was a breach of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found the provider was in breach of regulation.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about infection control and staffing. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern.

We have, however, found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service remains requires improvement.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘All inspection reports and timeline’ link for Maxey House Residential Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to reporting incidents. We have also made a recommendation in relation to reporting safeguarding concerns.

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.

Maxey House is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to 31 people. At the time of our inspection there were 21 people using the service in one adapted building over two floors.

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

People lived in an environment that needed some redecoration and the garden did not provide a pleasant and peaceful outlook. The provider provided an improvement plan following our inspection.

Accident and incidents were recorded but had not always been analysed to look for trends and themes.

Staff understood the different types of abuse and who they should raise any concerns with. People were supported by staff to access health care professionals when required. People were supported by enough staff who had received training to ensure they had the skills required to care and support people who use the service. A formal induction for agency staff was not in place, although the agency staff currently working at the service have been there for some considerable time and knew people well.

Care records did not always reflect people’s care need and some risk assessments were put in place during the inspection. Staff were knowledgeable about peoples needs.

Staff had been trained in the administration of medicines. People received their medicines as prescribed and the administration records were well kept.

People told us they were happy with the care they received and had no complaints. One person said, “[Maxey House] is home now and I am happy to be here.” Another person told us, “I am physically and mentally better in the last 3 or 4 months than I have been in the last 7 years. I don’t regret the decision to come here”

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.

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 on 9 January 2020

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about staffing levels, environment and poor food. 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 found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns.

Please see all sections of this full report.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the well led section of this full report.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.