About the service St Mary’s Nursing Home Margaret Street Stone is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to people aged 65 and over. The service can support up to 59 people in one adapted building. At the time of the inspection, the service was supporting 46 people.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The service was particularly skilled at helping people and their families to explore and record their wishes about care at the end of their life. People told us end of life care was exceptional, they told us they received kindness, time together and spiritual support towards the end of life.
The service took innovative steps to meet people’s information and communication needs. People were supported to communicate in a manner to suit their preferences and abilities.
The service found innovative ways of supporting people to maintain relationships with family and friends, particularly throughout the pandemic, when visits were not always possible.
Visiting professionals told us how the service focused on providing person-centred care and support, and achieved exceptional results.
People told us how staff had outstanding skills, and had excellent understanding of their individual needs relating to their protected equality characteristics and their values and beliefs. People told us they were listened to by staff and were confident to voice their opinions.
People felt actively involved in decision-making and empowered to make choices in daily life; they were also encouraged to remain independent where possible.
Arrangements for social activities were innovative and followed best practice guidance ensuring people could live as full a life as possible.
People were encouraged to maintain hobbies and interests; there were opportunities throughout the day for people to engage in fun and interesting activities. People told us they were happy and enjoyed living in the home.
The registered manager was visible, approachable and acted as a role model for staff. There was a positive culture of inclusiveness within the service, which ensured people were part of their individualised care. Staff and visiting professionals told us the registered manager was a passionate leader, focused on promoting people's wellbeing.
Feedback was welcomed to drive improvements in people's support, which had made a positive difference to people's quality of life. The registered manager continually looked for ways to improve and learn through involvement in projects and leading meetings with other professionals within Health and Social Care settings.
People received their medicines safely and we observed safe medicine administration practices.
People told us they felt safe and well supported. The staff described how they could recognise unsafe care practices and the action they would take to report poor practice. Lessons were learned when things had gone wrong.
There were enough trained and competent staff, people did not have to wait long for support. Staff were recruited safely. People were protected from the risk of cross infection and the home followed government guidance in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Care plans were robust and detailed people’s preferences, risks and health requirements. These were regularly reviewed by management. People and relatives told us they felt included in the care planning process. People were supported to access other health professionals when needed, and advice was followed.
People and relatives were positive about the food and drinks available and people had choices over menus and where they wanted to eat. The home was adapted to meet the needs of those living there and people could personalise their own rooms to feel more at home.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in line with 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 and update
The last rating for this service was good (report published 09 September 2019).
Why we inspected
We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding to test the reliability of our new monitoring approach.
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 to show how the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.
The overall rating for the service has not changed, it remains 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 St Mary’s Nursing Home 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.