Background to this inspection
Updated
21 January 2021
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
This inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type
Parkside (St Helens) Limited is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as 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.
The service had a manager registered with CQC. 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 the inspection
We checked the information that we held about the service. This included statutory notifications sent to us by the provider about incidents and events that had occurred at the service. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. We also gathered feedback about the service from the local authority. 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 took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with four people who lived at the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 10 members of staff including the provider, deputy manager, carers, agency carers and other staff.
We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records and multiple 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 quality assurance records were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at various documentation including health and safety records and policies and procedures.
Updated
21 January 2021
About the service
Parkside (St Helens) Limited is a residential care home providing personal care and accommodation for up to 30 people aged 65 and over in one adapted building. There were 22 people living at the home at the time of this inspection.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
There were enough staff available to meet people’s needs. People told us there were enough staff to help them when needed. One person said, “Staff come quickly if I need them.” There was a high proportion of agency staff on duty on the first day of our inspection as many regular staff were absent due to unplanned sickness. Records showed people still received the care and support they needed. Regular staff with good knowledge of the home and the people living there had returned to work by the second day of our inspection.
Some parts of the home were not clean on the first day of our inspection. However, the situation had changed on the second day of the inspection as regular staff, including a cleaner, returned to work and the home was clean throughout. We observed staff following good infection prevention and control practice, such as safe donning, doffing and disposal of personal protective equipment (PPE). People had been supported to self-isolate in their rooms as and when required. The home had a regular testing programme in place for both staff and people living at the home.
People told us they felt safe living at the home. One person commented, “Oh I’m very safe here. I’ve got to know the staff quite well. They’re very kind and caring.” Staff had received safeguarding training and were knowledgeable about their role in recognising and reporting safeguarding concerns.
Although the registered provider had sufficient oversight of the home, we found communication with key stakeholders was sometimes inconsistent. We have made a recommendation to help review and improve contingency planning at the home.
Staff had a positive, committed and caring attitude. Regular staff were knowledgeable about the people they were supporting and spoke fondly about them. People told us staff listened to them and they were approachable. One person said, “Yes I can say if I’m unhappy, staff listen to me. I’ve been here a long time and I’m very happy here.” There were systems in place to gather feedback from people living at the home and their relatives.
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 16 January 2019).
Why we inspected
As part of CQC’s response to care homes with outbreaks of coronavirus, we are conducting reviews to ensure that the Infection Prevention and Control practice was safe and the service was compliant with IPC measures. This inspection began as a targeted inspection looking at the IPC practices the provider had in place. In light of our findings the inspection was extended to a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led.
We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.
The overall rating for the service has remained 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 Parkside (St Helens) Limited 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.