12 December 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Eastham is a residential care home providing personal care and support for up to 25 older people some of whom may be living with dementia and people with a physical disability and sensory impairment. At the time of our inspection 18 people were using the service. The service is set in an adapted building over 3 floors.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People and staff were not always protected from the risk of infection as policy and procedures were not being followed to keep people properly protected. Improvements had been made quickly to ensure people were not at risk of harm but these needed to be sustainable.
There was enough staff to support people with their personal care. However, staffing levels needed review to ensure people got good quality care in all aspects of their life at the service.
We have made a recommendation about staffing levels.
Safeguarding systems were in place to protect people from harm. People were given their medicines in the right way and at the right time. They were well managed by staff who were competent in their role.
Staff were safely recruited in line with legal requirements and the provider had completed the appropriate checks.
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.
The provider worked alongside other healthcare professionals in order to support people's health needs, making referrals and seeking additional support where appropriate.
Lessons had been learnt from incidents and accidents and shared with staff to prevent them from happening again.
Staff and people who used the service were positive about the management of 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
The last rating for this service was good (published 20 March 2021).
Why we inspected
We carried out this unannounced inspection on 12 December 2022 to review the key questions of safe and well led only. This focussed inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.
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.
We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Eastham on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.