Bay House

Updated 24 January 2024

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 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 2 inspectors and 2 Experts by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Bay House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Bay House is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at 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.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 9 people who used the service, 5 relatives and 7 staff members, including the registered manager, care assistants, and ancillary staff.

We viewed a range of records. This included 6 people’s care records, associated risk assessments and medicine administration records (MAR). We looked at 2 recruitment files. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including health and safety records, risk assessments, staff rotas, quality assurance audits and a selection of policies were examined.

Updated 24 January 2024

About the service

Bay House is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to up to 24 people. The service provides support to older people and people living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 18 people using the service.

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

The provider did not give people care and support in a safe, clean, well equipped, well-furnished and well-maintained environment. Some areas of the home were visibly dirty. Improvements were needed to infection control practices in the service.

Staff did not always receive training to enable them to meet the needs of people and keep them safe. Medicines were not stored safely. Risks were not always fully assessed and planned for and there was limited evidence of learning following incidents.

Ineffective quality monitoring systems had failed to identify and address the failings we found during our inspection. There was a lack of effective monitoring, oversight, and leadership within the home. This had resulted in poor outcomes for people using the service.

People and their relatives were generally positive about the service and the care they received.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The management team were responsive to the inspection findings and feedback and took action during and after the inspection to improve some systems and action some of the concerns raised.

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 this service was good (published 09 September 2017).

Why we inspected

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

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 has changed from good to inadequate based on the findings of this inspection.

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 Bay House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to safety around the environment, risk management, staff training, and quality monitoring at this inspection.

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.

Follow up

The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures’. This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider’s registration, we will re-inspect within 6 months to check for significant improvements.

If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe and there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions the registration.

For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months. If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect it and it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions it will no longer be in special measures.