Updated 11 May 2019
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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team: An inspector and an expert by experience visited the service. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses care services for older people.
Service and service type: The Manor Exminster is a 'care home.' People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.
In July 2018 when the previous manager left, local professionals raised safeguarding concerns about some people’s care. A safeguarding meeting was held which identified the service needed some support to improve some aspects of safety and quality of care. Since then, local professionals and the local authority quality monitoring team have been working with the service to make those improvements.
The service had a new manager who registered with the Care Quality Commission on 28 March 2019. This meant that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection: This inspection was unannounced. We visited the service on 9 and 10 April 2019.
What we did: Prior to the inspection we reviewed all information we held about the home, such as details about incidents the provider must notify CQC about. The provider sent us a Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.
We spoke with 10 people and six relatives to ask them about their experience of the care provided. We looked at four people's care records and at their medicine records. We spent time in communal areas and observed staff interactions with people. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.
We spoke with the registered manager, deputy manager, a volunteer and with eight members of staff which included care, housekeeping, catering and maintenance staff. We looked at four staff files around staff recruitment, supervision, appraisal and staff training records. We also looked at quality monitoring records relating to the management of the service. We sought feedback from commissioners and health and social care professionals who worked with staff at the home. We received a response from five of them.