Stanecroft

Updated 13 February 2021

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.

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

We received information of concern about infection control and prevention measures at this service. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection control and prevention measures the provider has in place.

This inspection took place on 22 January 2021 and was unannounced.

Updated 13 February 2021

The inspection took place on 25 September 2018 and was unannounced.

Stanecroft is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Stanecroft is owned and operated by Care UK Community Partnerships Ltd. It provides accommodation and nursing care for up to 50 older people, who may also be living with dementia. There were 45 people living in the service at the time of our visit. A further two people lived at Stanecroft, but were in hospital on the inspection date. The service is arranged into five individual units. The service also has an onsite day service which is accessed by some of the people who live at Stanecroft, in addition to being open to the wider community.

The service had a registered manager. 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 was present during the inspection.

We last carried out a comprehensive inspection of this service on 23 August 2017 when we rated the service as Requires Improvement and made two recommendations about how the service could make improvements to the leadership and training of staff.

At this inspection, we found that the provider had allocated a regional support team to assist the registered manager in moving the service forwards. Through this process, the provider had maintained a strong oversight of the service in addition to mentoring the management support team. This has led to a much more open culture and a greater sense of personalisation across the service. The next step is for these new ways of working to be embedded and for the registered manager to take the service forward in a proactive way.

There were sufficient staff to safely support people. Appropriate checks were undertaken to ensure only suitable staff were employed and new staff completed a programme of induction. All staff accessed mandatory training and specialist training was ongoing.

People were safeguarded from the risk of abuse and staff understood their roles and responsibilities in protecting them from avoidable harm. Staff had a better understanding of people’s capacity and legal rights and took positive steps to gain valid consent.

People’s needs were appropriately assessed and care was planned in a person-centred way. Support was delivered in response to people’s changing needs. Advanced care planning enabled people’s end of life wishes to be known and respected.

People were supported to maintain adequate levels of nutrition and hydration and told us they liked the food provided.

Medicines were managed safely and people received their medicines as prescribed. Staff now worked in partnership to ensure people received holistic personal and health care support.

The service was clean and there were systems in place to appropriately manage infection control. There was an ongoing programme to improve the design and layout of the service to effectively support people living with dementia.

People received support from staff that were kind and compassionate towards them. People were involved in making decisions about their care and staff had a good knowledge of people’s individuality and preferences.

People had greater opportunities to participate in activities of interest and staff engaged with people in a way that was meaningful to them. There were better systems in place to ensure that people were listened to and concerns were addressed in a way that improved the quality of care.