St Mary's Home

Updated 13 April 2023

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

St Mary’s Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. St Mary’s Home is a care home with nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 7 people. Some people could not speak with us and tell us of their experiences verbally, so we observed their interactions with staff. We spoke with 3 members of staff including the deputy manager. We also received written feedback from 4 external healthcare professionals via email.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people’s care records and 3 medicines records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at quality assurance records.

Updated 13 April 2023

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

About the service

St Mary’s Home is a residential care home consisting of seven living areas or flats, which can support up to 40 people. The service was providing personal care to 35 people at the time of the inspection.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Right Support – Effective risk management plans were now in place. Risk assessments were updated and clear guidelines in place to guide staff as to how to support people.

The numbers and skills of staff matched the needs of people using the service. Staff recruitment and induction training processes promoted safety, including those for agency staff. Staff knew how to take into account people’s individual needs, wishes and goals. People continued to be supported by staff who followed systems and processes to prescribe, administer, record and store medicines safely.

Right Care - People received kind and compassionate care from staff who used positive, respectful language which people understood and responded well to. Staff knew people well and interacted positively with them.

Staff helped people to have freedom of choice and control over what they did. People were supported to participate in their chosen social and leisure interests on a regular basis.

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.

Right culture – Governance processes were effective in ensuring records management was consistent to keep people safe, protect people’s rights and provide good quality care and support. Important incidents were now being reported to the Care Quality Commission.

The provider sought feedback from people and those important to them and used the feedback to develop 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 and update

The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (published 25 July 2022).

The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.