Kelvedon House

Updated 9 August 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on the 04 July 2018 and was unannounced. The inspection team consisted of one inspector 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. We agreed to return and complete the inspection on 06 July 2018, when the inspection team consisted of one inspector.

As part of the inspection process we looked at information we already held about the provider. Providers are required to notify the Care Quality Commission about specific events and incidents that occur including serious injuries to people receiving care and any incidences that put people at risk of harm. We refer to these as notifications. We checked if the provider had sent us notifications in order to plan the areas we wanted to focus on during our inspection. We also contacted the local authority about information they held about the provider. The local authorities are responsible for monitoring the quality and for funding people receiving care support.

During our inspection we spoke to five people who lived at the home and used different methods to gather experiences of what it was like to live at the home. We also spoke with nine relatives of people living at the home, three healthcare professionals and one independent trainer who were all visiting the home during the inspection.

We spoke to the registered manager, the deputy manager, one unit manager, two senior care staff, two care staff and the senior administration worker. We also spoke to the cook and kitchen assistant. We looked at records relating to the management of the service such as, care plans for six people, the incident and accident records, two staff recruitment files, Medicine Administration Records (MAR), audit records and residents meeting minutes.

Updated 9 August 2018

This inspection was unannounced and took place on 04 and 06 July 2018. We last inspected Kelvedon House on 20 July 2016, when we rated it as ‘good.’

Kelvedon House is registered to provide accommodation for 52 people who require nursing or personal care. People who live there may have a dementia type illness or a learning disability. At the time of our inspection 49 people were living at the home. The service is delivered across three units; Park View and Jobs Way which are predominantly occupied by people who are living with dementia and the third unit which supports people who have a learning disability.

A registered manager was in place. A manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People were cared for by staff who were trained in recognising and understanding how to report potential abuse. Staff knew how to raise any concerns about people’s safety and shared information so that people’s safety needs were met.

People were supported by staff to have their medicines and records were maintained of medicines administered. People and relatives complimented the cleanliness of the home and staff used protective clothing when appropriate.

Staff were available to meet people’s individual needs and demonstrated good knowledge about people living at the home. Staff told us training helped them meet the specific needs of the people they supported.

Staff understood the importance of ensuring people agreed to the care and support they provided and when to involve others to help people make important decisions. The registered manager was aware of their responsibilities in regard to the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and had submitted the appropriate applications where they had assessed that people were potentially receiving care that restricted their liberty.

People enjoyed a choice of meals and snacks and were supported to access professional healthcare outside of the home, for example, they had regular visits with their GP and any changes to their care needs were recorded and implemented.

People were supported to enjoy a wide range of activities and were involved in their day to day care and chose how to spend their day. We saw further developments including on site reminiscence shops were planned to support people living with dementia. People were encouraged to maintain their independence.

Staff were caring and treated people with respect. We saw people were relaxed around the staff supporting them and we heard and saw positive communication throughout our inspection and saw people smiling and responding positively to staff. Staff showed us that they knew the interests, likes and dislikes of people. We saw that staff ensured that they were respectful of people’s choices and decisions.

People knew how to raise concerns and felt confident they could raise any issues should the need arise and that action would be taken as a result.

The provider had systems in place to check and improve the quality of the service provided. We saw that where areas had been identified as requiring improvement actions had been taken in response.

The registered manager was available to people, relatives and staff and supported staff to carry out their roles and responsibilities effectively, so that people received care and support in-line with their needs and wishes.