• Care Home
  • Care home

The Chimneys Care Home

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

1 Station Road, Alford, Lincolnshire, LN13 9HY (01507) 462789

Provided and run by:
The Chimneys Care Home

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 30 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.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of 1 inspector, 1 medicines inspector and 1 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

The Chimneys Care Home 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. The Chimneys Care Home 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

The inspection was unannounced. We attended the site location on 3 January 2024. We spoke to relatives remotely on 8 January 2024. The inspection ended on 16 January 2024.

What we did before the inspection

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 sought feedback from professionals who know the service and Healthwatch England. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 3 people and 4 of their relatives. We spoke with 5 members of staff including the registered manager, a senior director for the organisation and care staff. We spoke with 1 professional who knew the service. We reviewed 5 people’s care records and 10 people’s medicine records. We reviewed 2 staff recruitment records and various other quality assurance records.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 30 January 2024

About the service

The Chimneys Care Home is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to up to 14 people. The service provides support to older people. At the time of our inspection there were 10 people using the service.

People’s experience of the service and what we found:

The registered manager ensured people’s physical and emotional needs were being met. Some records were due for review and some audits had not been completed in a timely manner. However, the information was mostly still accurate and the registered manager maintained good oversight of the service through practical observations and discussion with staff and people. We have made a recommendation for a review and update of all care plans and audits.

People were supported by staff who understood their likes and dislikes and provided personalised care in ways that upheld their respect. The registered manager sought people’s and relatives’ feedback regularly through surveys and telephone calls.

People lived in a home that was well maintained and kept clean to reduce the risk of spread of infection.

People told us they felt safe. They were supported by a staff team who understood how to identify and report any concerns. Risks to people due to health conditions or the environment were well managed.

People were supported to take their medicine safely. Any concerns with their health were referred to the relevant professional without delay.

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.

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 24 December 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘All inspection reports and timeline’ link for The Chimneys Care Home 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.