Southfields House

Southfields House is a residential care home registered to provide care for up to 45 older people, some of whom are living with dementia. At the time of the inspection 23 people were living in the home. Accommodation is provided in one purpose built building. All areas have a range of communal facilities such as dining and lounge spaces for people to have meals and socialise.

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

People and their families described the care they received as good and staff treated them with dignity and respect. People and their relatives spoke positively about the caring nature of staff and their compassionate approach. People's diversity and individual needs were respected by staff.

The staff team knew people well and were able to provide appropriate support discreetly and with compassion. People were supported to maintain contact with relatives and friends. There was a wide range of appropriate activities people could involve themselves in. Staff demonstrated they knew how to raise safeguarding concerns and were aware of the processes to follow in order to keep people safe. People told us they felt safe.

Care and support plans were developed to ensure people's needs and risks were met appropriately. Risk management strategies were in place to assist staff to help people to manage identified risks which included identifying triggers for behaviours that may cause distress. Risk management plans helped staff as well as the person to minimise risks but included positive risk taking.

Staffing levels were appropriate to ensure people's needs were met in a safe, timely and consistent way. The service was following safe infection prevention and control procedures to keep people safe. The administration of medicines was managed in a safe way and people received their medicines as prescribed.

Staff were provided with the right training and support to make sure they could fulfil their roles appropriately. There was clear evidence of collaborative working and good communication with other professionals in the health and social care sector. People's health care needs were being met and they had access to healthcare services where needed.

People were supported to have as much choice and control of their lives as they could achieve. Staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Appropriate policies and procedures were in place to manage and respond to complaints and concerns. The provider's ethos and values put people at the heart of the service. The staff team were empowered to contribute to support a person-centred model of effective care.

There was a comprehensive and effective governance system in place. People, relatives and staff were confident about approaching the registered manager if they needed to. They recognised that their views and feedback were valued and respected and consistently used to support quality service development. A wide range of comprehensive audits took place to ensure the quality of the service was maintained.

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 requires improvement (published on 22 April 2021). We also undertook an infection prevention control inspection (published 25 February 2022)

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

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.

The overall rating for the service is good.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection under the previous provider, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Southfields House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Follow up

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

Southfields House is a residential care home registered to provide care for up to 45 older people, some of whom are living with dementia. At the time of the inspection 25 people were living in the home.

Southfields House accommodates 45 people across six separate units, each of which has separate adapted facilities. During the inspection two of the units were closed for refurbishment.

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

The provider failed to implement all the government guidance in their policies and practice. This placed people at risk of the spread of infections including COVID-19.

Staff had access to personal protective equipment (PPE), were using this appropriately and understood the importance of good hand hygiene. Visitors were screened and tested before entering the building to prevent the risk of infection from COVID-19. Staff were vaccinated as per the regulatory requirement.

The provider had not ensured all the quality monitoring audits had been completed in the last two months, this was due to staff shortages. The registered manager worked closely with staff during this period to identify areas of the service that required improvement.

There were enough staff deployed to provide people’s planned care, however, there were many staff vacancies, so the provider used regular agency and management to provide care.

People received their medicines as planned. Staff received training in managing medicines and their competencies had been checked.

Staff were recruited using safe recruitment procedures.

People’s risks were assessed and reviewed regularly or as their needs changed.

Staff understood their roles in safeguarding people from abuse or improper treatment. The managers were responsive to staff concerns.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 1 April 2021 and this is the first inspection. We have not reviewed the rating as we have not looked at all of the key questions at this inspection.

The last rating for the service under the previous provider was Requires Improvement, published on 22 April 2021.

Why we inspected

We undertook a targeted inspection to follow up on specific concerns which we had received about the service. The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about infection control. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

We inspected and found there was a concern with infection control, so we widened the scope of the inspection to become a focused inspection which included the key questions of safe and well-led.

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. This included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

We have identified a breach in relation to infection prevention and control at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.