Archived: Thomas Tawell House

Updated 19 February 2022

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of CQC’s response to care homes with outbreaks of COVID-19, we are conducting reviews to ensure that the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) practice is safe and that services are compliant with IPC measures. This was a targeted inspection looking at the IPC practices the provider has in place. We also asked the provider about any staffing pressures the service was experiencing and whether this was having an impact on the service.

This inspection took place on 31 January 2022 and was unannounced.

Updated 19 February 2022

About the service

Thomas Tawell House accommodates up to 37 people in one adapted building. At the time of the inspection there were 23 people living at the service, some of whom were living with a sight impairment.

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

Staff understood the risks to people and the measures in place to keep them safe. Systems were in place to manage people's medicines safely and to reduce the risks associated with the spread of infection.

Sufficient numbers of staff were employed to meet people's needs. Staff received training which gave them the necessary skills and knowledge to carry out their roles and meet people’s needs.

Systems ensured that people's risks were well managed, and lessons were learnt when things went wrong. There was an open culture within the service. People and staff could approach the manager, who acted on concerns raised to make improvements to people's care. A relative told us, “I have no issues at all with the care, they look after [relative] very well. I have no issues with the home at all, they know me, and I know most of the staff too. Staff treat [relative] really well and they are always caring and helpful. They always cater to [relative’s] whims and they understand their every need.”

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 May 2019)

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the management of medicines. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well led sections of this full report.

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 remained good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Thomas Tawell House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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