Swanton House Care Centre

Updated 26 February 2020

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.

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.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by an inspector and a specialist advisor in nursing and an 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

Swanton House Care Centre 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.

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

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before 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. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection-

We spoke with 11 people who used the service about their experiences of the care provided. We spoke with 12 members of staff including the registered manager, deputy manager, lead nurse, team leaders, support workers and the head of hospitality and head of maintenance.

We reviewed a range of records. This included seven people’s care records and seven medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We gained feedback from three professionals who regularly visit the service.

Updated 26 February 2020

About the service

Swanton House Care Centre is residential care home and was providing personal and nursing care to 29 people living with a mental health condition and/or learning disability at the time of the inspection.

The care home is registered to accommodate 49 people for residential and nursing care. People may have a mental health need, a learning disability, a physical disability or a dual diagnosis. Some people are living with dementia. The service accommodates people both over and under 65 years old. People currently live in in two separate houses called Holly and Bluebell. The houses are set in large grounds and are single storey and purpose built with some self-contained accommodation. The third house, Birch is a converted period building. There was a plan to refurbish and modernise the accommodation in this building. At the time of inspection, it was only used for office space and some communal activities. Four downstairs rooms were being refurbished in order to take emergency placements.

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

People told us they felt safe at the service. There had been an improvement in staffing levels across the service to ensure that there were enough staff to support people. Staff were knowledgeable about how to keep people safe and manage risks to promote their independence. There were systems in place to monitor incidents and ensure that action was taken to prevent things going wrong in the future.

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. A competency framework for staff ensured they had the skills and knowledge they needed to support people and meet people’s needs. People told us the food was excellent and all staff were aware of people’s preferences as well special requirements in relation to their diet. The premises continued to be improved and people were consulted on how it could be adapted to meet their needs.

We observed positive relationships between staff and people living at the service. People told us staff spent time with them having a chat or providing support. Staff were very aware of promoting privacy, dignity and confidentiality and people were involved in their care and supported to be as independent as possible.

Care plans were regularly reviewed in line with people’s changing care needs. There was an active programme of activities that engaged people both within the home as well as encouraging people to be engage with the local community. Additional provision had been made since the last inspection to ensure that those people who stayed mainly in their rooms, or who didn’t like being in groups were able to engage in activities. Consideration for people’s wishes at the end of their life was recorded sensitively in a care plan called, ‘Hopes and concerns for the future.’

There was a positive, person-centred culture across the service. Staff morale was good, and staff worked well as a team. Staff told us management were open and approachable and they felt supported in their roles. Auditing processes had been considerably improved since the last inspection resulting in improvements to care and the registered manager continued to identify new areas to work on. The service worked well in partnership with other organisations and professionals to improve the health and wellbeing of people using the service.

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 Requires Improvement (published 8 August 2019) and there were multiple breaches of regulations. Following this inspection, we met with the provider to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve the rating to at least Good. The provider completed an action plan to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Swanton House Care Centre 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.