Golden Years Care Home

Updated 2 November 2022

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.

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 one inspector.

Service and service type

Golden Years Home 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.

Registered Manager

This service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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. Inspection activity started on 04 October 2022 and ended on 05 October 2022.

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 commissioners who work with the service. We also looked at information we had received and held on our system about the service, this included notifications sent to us by the provider and information passed to us by members of the public. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with five people who lived at Golden Years, two relatives of people and three members of staff. The registered manager was not available at the time of the inspection however we spoke with the deputy manager. We observed staff interaction with people and reviewed a range of records. These included care records of two people, medication records, two staff files in relation to recruitment checks and staff training records. We also reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service. We had a walk around the premises and looked at infection control measures.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the deputy manager to validate evidence found. We looked at their quality assurance systems they had in place.

Updated 2 November 2022

About the service

Golden Years care home is a residential care home that provides care and support for up to 21 older people. At the time of the inspection 20 people lived at the home.

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

The building was clean and hygienic and staff were seen to wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). There were staff to meet people’s care needs. No new staff had been employed recently, however processes were for the safe recruitment of staff. One staff member said, “I know when I started everything was checked previous to me starting work.” Safeguarding training was in the process of being updated for staff and they were aware of the procedures to follow to enable people to keep safe. One person said, “Plenty of staff around so no need to worry about safety.”

Risks were assessed and carefully monitored to ensure individuals safety. People received their medicines safely.

The provider had auditing systems to maintain ongoing oversight of the service and make improvements where necessary. Informal systems to gather people’s views and staff team meetings were in place. The management team acted upon suggestions or ideas that were made by people, to ensure the service continued to be monitored and improve.

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 05/02/2018).

Why we inspected

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

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.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

Follow Up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.