Mill Lane Nursing and Residential Home

Updated 5 July 2023

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.

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

This inspection was undertaken by an inspector.

Service and service type

Mill Lane Nursing and Residential 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. Mill Lane Nursing and Residential Home is a care home with 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 not a registered manager in post. A new manager had been in post for 10 weeks, they were in the process of submitting an application to register.

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. 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 used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 4 people who used the service and 2 people’s relatives. We also spoke with 4 members of staff, including, the manager, regional manager, activities and nursing staff. We observed the interactions between staff and people who used the service.

We reviewed a range of records including 4 people’s care records, medicine records, 3 staff recruitment records, and records relating to health and safety and governance.

Following our visit, we received electronic feedback from 2 care staff members and spoke with 6 relatives on the telephone.

We fed back our findings from the inspection on a video call to the manager, regional manager, operations director, and service development and regulations manager on 27 June 2023.

Updated 5 July 2023

About the service

Mill Lane Nursing and Residential Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 30 people in an adapted building. The service provides support to older people and people living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 22 people using the service.

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

There was a new manager in post. The manager and provider had systems in place to monitor and assess the service provided and were committed to continuously improve and develop. People’s views about the service were sought and valued and used to drive improvement. Incidents and accidents were analysed and lessons were learned when things went wrong to reduce future risks.

There was a system in place to reduce the risks of abuse and harm, this included assessing risk and providing guidance for staff in how to mitigate the risks. Staff were available when people needed them and were recruited safely. People received their medicines as prescribed and monitoring supported staff to identify any discrepancies and address them. The service was clean and hygienic. People were supported to have visitors with no restrictions.

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 14 February 2019).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part by notification of an incident following which a person using the service sustained a serious injury and died. This incident is subject to further investigation by CQC as to whether any regulatory action should be taken. As a result, this inspection did not examine the circumstances of the incident. However, the information shared with CQC about the incident indicated potential concerns about safety. This inspection examined those risks. As a result, 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.

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. The overall rating for the service has remained good.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Mill Lane Nursing and Residential 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.