Darwin House Limited

Updated 5 March 2020

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by an inspector and an Expert 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

Darwin House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

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. The provider was not asked to send a provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with nine people who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with seven members of staff including the registered manager, assistant manager, senior care workers, care workers and the chef. We spoke with three professionals who regularly visit the service. 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 reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records and multiple medication audits. We looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures and quality assurance records.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training and supervision data.

Updated 5 March 2020

About the service

Darwin house is a residential care home providing personal care for up to 28 older people. The facilities are over three floors. At the time of our inspection, 19 people were living at Darwin House.

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

People were supported in a safe environment by staff who were suitably skilled and competent to meet their needs.

Staff were aware of how to safeguard people from abuse and had good knowledge on how to recognise and respond to concerns. There were no open complaint and the provider had a complaint policy and procedure in place.

Care plans were reflective of people’s needs. An electronic care planning system was being implemented to support the improvement and development of care planning and record keeping. Care plans reflected people’s diverse needs.

Medicines continued to be administered as prescribed. Risks were monitored and evaluated and the home was very well maintained.

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 unanimously gave positive feedback on the service. The dining experience was delivered to a very high standard and people and relatives were complimentary about the choice and presentation of the food served.

The service worked in partnership with various health and social care professionals to ensure holistic care was provided.

There were robust systems and processes in place to ensure the service was well delivered and continually improved. People, staff and relatives were involved in giving feedback into how the service was run and developed. There was a dedicated staff team who were committed to ensuring people received person centred care. They were passionate about the work they carried out and the outcomes for people.

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 21 July 2015). There was also an inspection on (24 November 2017). However, the report following that inspection was withdrawn as there was an issue with some of the information that we gathered.

Why we inspected

This is a planned re-inspection because of the issue highlighted above.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.