Archived: The Croft (RCH) Limited

Updated 4 February 2022

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 COVID-19 pandemic we are looking at how services manage infection control and visiting arrangements. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection prevention and control measures the provider had in place. We also asked the provider about any staffing pressures the service was experiencing and whether this was having an impact on the service.

This inspection took place on 13 January 2022 and was announced. We gave the service one days’ notice of the inspection.

Updated 4 February 2022

About the service

The Croft (RCH) Limited is a residential care home that provides accommodation and care for older people and younger adults living with a mental health condition. The service is registered to accommodate up to 21 people. At the time of our inspection, there were 17 people living at the service.

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

Department of health best practice guidance on the prevention and control of infections, specifically Covid 19, were not always followed. This included the correct use of personal protective equipment and safe visiting arrangements.

Recruitment practices were not safe as some pre-employment checks for new staff had not been completed. Therefore, the service could not be assured that staff recruited were of good character or suitable to work at the service. There were sufficient numbers of staff available to people. Staff had the time they required to provide people with responsive and effective care in a relaxed and unhurried way.

Some aspects of medicines were not always managed safely. Medicines stock levels were checked and did not always correspond to records held. Therefore, we could not be assured that medicines administration records (MAR) were completed correctly or that people received their medicines as prescribed. There was a lack of specific individual detail as to when ‘as required’ (PRN) medications should be given meaning people may not receive these consistently as prescribed.

People told us they were happy living at The Croft and that they felt safe. They said staff treated them well.

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 24 August 2019) and there were two breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection enough improvement had not been made/sustained, and the provider was still in breach of regulations. The service remains rated requires improvement.

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to staff use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and safeguarding. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review these and the previous breaches of regulation relating to staffing and medicines.

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.

CQC have introduced targeted inspections to check specific concerns. They do not look at an entire key question, only the part of the key question we are specifically concerned about. Targeted inspections do not change the rating from the previous inspection. This is because they do not assess all areas of a key question.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We identified breaches in relation to safe recruitment and infection prevention and control at this inspection. We issued warning notices telling the provider they must make improvements. The provider has told us they have taken the necessary action to keep people safe.

Follow up

We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will work with the local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Croft RCH on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.