Updated 8 March 2019
The inspection:
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team:
Our inspection was completed by two inspectors.
Service and service type:
Palmerston House is a residential care home. People living in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care which are both regulated by the Care Quality Commission. Both areas were looked at during this inspection.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means 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:
Our inspection was unannounced and the inspection was completed on 15 and 18 January 2019.
What we did:
Our inspection was prepared using information we already held about the service, for example, previous inspection reports and notifications. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law.
We checked feedback from members of the public, the Local Authority and Clinical Commissioning Group. We asked the service to complete a Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.
During the inspection we spoke with nine people and one relative, we also spoke with the registered manager and three members of staff. We spent time looking round the premises and observed staff interacting with people.
We looked at four people’s care plans and two staff personnel files as well as training records for all staff. We also reviewed two Medicines Administration Records (MAR) and other records about the management and running of the service.
After the inspection, we asked the provider to send us further documents which we received and reviewed. This information was included as part of our inspection.