Updated 4 July 2019
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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team:
The inspection team comprised one inspector and one 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, in this case services for older people.
Service and service type:
Linden House Care Home is a care home for up to 23 people who require personal care. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. At the time of inspection there were 22 people living at the home.
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:
The inspection was unannounced.
We visited the service on 30 May and 3 June 2019 to see the registered manager, people and staff, and to see care records, policies and procedures.
What we did:
Before the inspection we looked at information we held about the service:
We require providers to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We call this the Provider Information Return (PIR). This information helps support our inspections.
The law requires providers to notify us of certain events that happen during the running of a service. We reviewed notifications received since the last inspection.
We reviewed the previous inspection report.
During the inspection:
We spoke with six people who used the service and seven family members. We spoke with the registered manager, one visiting community nurse and five staff members.
We looked at the care records of five people. We looked at five staff records, including training and recruitment records. We looked at other records to do with the management of the service. We looked at one quality and safety audit report compiled by the local authority.
After the inspection, we spoke to one social worker who had recent experience of working with the provider.