Background to this inspection
Updated
15 November 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. 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 team consisted of one inspector, one specialist advisor for older person’s mental health, and one expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using services or cares for someone who has mental health.
Service and service type
Maria Skobtsova House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as 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 the inspection
We looked at statutory notifications the provider had made to us about important events. In addition, we reviewed all other information sent to us from members of the public and stakeholders, such as the local authority.
We also used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.
We contacted the local authority commissioning team and Healthwatch Plymouth for feedback about the service. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.
We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
During the inspection we spoke with five people who lived at the service. We also spoke with five support staff, the deputy manager, the registered manager and a senior manager.
We looked four care plans for people who used the service, training records for all staff, three medicines administration records and auditing and monitoring checks.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the manager to validate evidence found. We contacted three external mental health professionals.
Updated
15 November 2019
About the service
Maria Skobtsova House is a care home. It is registered to provide accommodation and personal care and accommodation for up 8 older people. The service provides rehabilitation and support for people with mental health and physical needs. Maria Skobstova House is affiliated to an organisation called St Anthony-St Elias also known as “the Community”. At the time of the inspection there were 8 people living at the service.
The service is on two floors, with access to the upper floor via stairs or a shaft lift. Most bedrooms have ensuite facilities and/or a shared bathroom. There is an outside garden area.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were at the heart of the service, and were cared for by very kind, caring and enabling staff. The atmosphere of the service was warm, friendly and like a family. People told us they felt safe living at the service and that their privacy, dignity and independence was fully promoted.
People’s views were listened to, valued and used to design their individualised care and support.
People’s health and social care needs were met, and care records showed that risks associated with people’s care were being managed safely and consistently.
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.
People’s ongoing wellbeing was seen as an essential part of their care and support and staff were driven to help ensure people lived active and fulfilled lives.
People received support by staff who had been recruited safely and had received training to be able to meet their needs. Staff knew what action to take if they suspected someone was being abused, mistreated or neglected.
The service was part of the local community and staff worked in partnership with external health professionals to ensure people’s care was co-ordinated.
The service was well managed, with monitoring systems in place to help identify where improvements were required. However, medicine checks had not been robust enough in identifying when records were not in place.
We recommend the provider implements the 'managing medicines in care homes', National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.
There was an open and transparent culture, and all staff displayed the ‘person-centred’ values of the organisation.
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 (Published 26 April 2017).
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 Maria Skobtsova House 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.