9 January 2023
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Cheriton Care Home is a residential care home, providing the regulated activity accommodation and personal care to up to 27 people. The service provides support to older people, including people with dementia. At the time of our inspection there was 15 people using the service.
Cheriton Care Home accommodates people in one building, over two floors.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People told us they felt safe and were accepting of their care. Relatives were happy with their family member's care. They commented “I’m very happy and pleased with the service.” Relatives felt their family members got safe care and were well looked after, with their health and care needs met. Relatives commented “I am very happy that he is safe. They(staff) do a fantastic job.”
Whilst risk management had improved, not all risks had been identified and mitigated.
Staff were not suitably deployed which impacted on the care given, access to person centred activities and the cleanliness of the service.
Areas of the service had been refurbished. However, further improvements are necessary to ensure the service is safe, clean and fit for purpose.
Records had been organised and systems set up to make them accessible. However, some records were contradictory, incomplete and not suitably maintained. Auditing had commenced. Further improvements are needed to ensure the audits are picking up the issues we found, so that these are addressed in a timely manner.
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.
People’s care plans were under review and development to make them person centred. Regular person- centred activities were not established. We have made a recommendation to address this.
Safe medicine practices were promoted. People’s health and nutritional needs were met. Systems were in place to safeguard people, including review and oversight of accident and incidents to mitigate the risk of reoccurrence.
Staff were suitably inducted, trained and supervised in their roles.
Systems were in place to enable people and their relatives to raise concerns. Issues raised were investigated and addressed.
The service had a new registered manager whom had made improvements to the service. They worked closely with the group compliance manager in setting up systems, auditing, and in developing the person-centred software. They had established links with relatives and were working with staff to develop and support them to improve practice to benefit people.
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 inadequate (published 20 May 2022) and there was breaches of regulations. 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 improvements had been made however, the provider remained in breach of regulations.
At our last inspection we recommended that the provider works to best practice in relation to learning from accidents and incidents, to improve their approach to developing staff and promoting good practice, to follow good practice to improve people's mealtime experiences, to seek advice from a reputable source about improving the environment for people with dementia, to be compliant with the Accessible Information Standard, to develop staff to become end of life champions and to improve their understanding of the duty of candour requirement.
At this inspection we found the provider had acted on the recommendations, made improvements and further improvements were planned.
This service has been in Special Measures since 20 May 2022. During this inspection the provider demonstrated that improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.
Why we inspected
We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on the 4 March and 4 April 2022. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements.
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 has changed from inadequate to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection. We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe, caring, responsive and well- led sections of this full report.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Cheriton Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Enforcement and Recommendations
We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, staffing, environment, dignity and respect and good governance at this inspection.
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.