Sherrell House Care Home

Updated 27 August 2020

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.

This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection control and prevention measures the provider has in place. As part of CQC’s response to the coronavirus pandemic we are conducting a thematic review of infection control and prevention measures in care homes.

This inspection took place on11 August 2020 and was announced. The service was invited to take part in this thematic review which is seeking to identify examples of good practice in infection prevention and control.

Updated 27 August 2020

The inspection took place on the 04 September 2017 and was unannounced. Sherrell House provides accommodation and nursing care to up to 92 people. People living in the service may have care needs associated with dementia. There were 79 people living at the service on the day of our inspection.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 28 and 29 November 2016. We reported that the registered provider was in breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 registration and regulated activities regulations.

Regulation 18 Registration Regulations 2009 Notifications of other incidents

Regulation 11 HSCA RA Regulations 2014 Need for consent

Regulation 12 HSCA RA Regulations 2014 Safe care and treatment

Regulation 17 HSCA RA Regulations 2014 Good governance

Regulation 18 HSCA RA Regulations 2014 Staffing

We took enforcement action and served a Warning Notice against one of the more serious breaches that we found in respect of Regulation 13, section (1) (2), of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. We gave the provider until 17 March 2017 to ensure they complied with the Warning Notice. We judged the service as "requires improvement" following the inspection of November 2016. You can read the report from our last inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for 'Sherrell House' on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

We asked the registered provider to make improvements and they sent us a plan with the actions they intended to take. At this inspection, we found the service had made significant improvements and that all the breaches of regulation found in our visit in November 2016 had now been met.

A registered manager was not in post. A registered 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. The registered manager left the service in August 2017. A new manager had been appointed and was due to start in September 2017. A member of the provider’s senior management team was managing the service on an interim basis.

People felt safe living at Sherrell House. Staff understood how to keep people safe and risks to people's safety and well-being were identified and managed.

Robust recruitment procedures had been followed to reduce the risks of employing staff unsuitable for their role. There were sufficient numbers of staff deployed to meet people's needs.

Staff received comprehensive training to enable them to meet people's care and support requirements. We asked staff members about training and supervision. They all confirmed that they now received regular training and supervision throughout the year.

People were given support to take their medicines as prescribed. Daily checks were carried out by unit managers to ensure medicines were managed safely.

Nutritional needs were met and people were supported to access healthcare services if they needed them. People's health needs were closely monitored and any changes to their needs were immediately reflected in their care plans and the care that they received.

Accidents and incidents were recorded, analysed and trends identified. The provider had worked hard to significantly reduce the amount of falls occurring at the service.

We found staff understood the importance of gaining consent from people and when needed people's capacity had been assessed. When people were unable to make decisions these had been considered and made in people's best interests. Deprivation of liberty safeguard (DoLS) applications had been submitted by the service in order to ensure that people were not being detained without authorisation.

Care was delivered to people in a personalised way and information was shared with staff to ensure that they were aware of people's on going needs.

The provider had improved the quality assurance systems in place and regular audits were being completed, and issues identified were addressed in a timely manner. The provider continually sought feedback from people living in the service, relatives and staff in order to improve the service.