• Care Home
  • Care home

Mayflower Care Home

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Hartshill Road, Northfleet, Gravesend, Kent, DA11 7DX (01474) 531030

Provided and run by:
Mayflower Care Home (Northfleet) Limited

Latest inspection summary

On this page

Background to this inspection

Updated 5 November 2021

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.

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

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors, a medicines inspector, a specialist nurse and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Mayflower Care Centre 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.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.

Notice of inspection

The inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We sought and received positive feedback from the local authority and two commissioners of the service. We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 11 staff including the registered manager, clinical lead, two nurses, a trainee assistant practitioner, an assistant practitioner, five health care assistants and the operations manager.

We are improving how we hear people’s experience and views on services, when they have limited verbal communication. We have trained some CQC team members to use a symbol-based communication tool. We checked that this was a suitable communication method and that people were happy to use it with us. We did this by reading their care and communication plans and speaking to staff or relatives and the person themselves. In this report, we used this communication tool with two people to tell us their experience. In addition, we spoke to one person without using the tool.

We reviewed a range of records. This included nine people’s care records and care notes. We reviewed the medicines administration records (MAR) and care records for 11 people. We looked at three staff recruitment files. We also saw a variety of records relating to the management of the service, such as health and safety, audits and staff meetings.

After the inspection

An expert by experience telephoned nine relatives to gain feedback on the quality of the service provided. We also sought feedback from professionals who work with the service.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 5 November 2021

About the service

Mayflower Care Centre is registered to provide people with nursing and residential care. It can accommodate up to 76 older people living with dementia, nursing needs or end of life care. At the time of this inspection there were 75 people living in the service. The service is divided into five units. Diamond on the ground floor caters for up to 26 people who are frail. Sapphire and Opal units on the first floor provide care for up to 30 people. On the second floor Amethyst and Emerald units cater for up to 20 people with complex needs including behaviours that challenge themselves or others and mental health problems.

People’s experience of using this service

People and their relatives told us the service was exceptionally well-led which resulted in staff delivering a high standard of care. A relative had complimented the service stating, ‘I just wanted to make you aware of the outstanding job your team have done for my dad. A stressful time was made so much more bearable’.

We had received a compliment about the management of the service from a visiting health care professional. “I was blown away by the skills of all their staff to manage their residents with 'challenging behaviour'. The care home manager and trainer are passionate about their residents. This home deserves more than outstanding it deserves an award.”

Everyone described a positive culture at Mayflower where people were at the heart of the service. One relative told us, “Staff know what they’re doing, and their really good attitude and enthusiasm rubs off”. Another relative summed up the open culture of the service telling us, “They explain what they are doing and why. They don’t hide anything. Their response is excellent. The care I’ve seen, I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Governance was well-embedded at the service and there was a strong emphasis on continuous improvement. This involved actively engaging and working in partnership with relatives. Comments from relatives included, "All through covid, they went over and above to inform us how they are keeping everyone safe and well. They’ve protected the residents and put in a really strict procedure to protect us all"; and I truly believe that Mayflower are supporting me as well as mum.” Relatives feedback told us they particularly appreciated the open access to their loved one’s daily care notes. One relative described this as, “Wonderful and hugely reassuring.”

Staff had opportunities to develop, were proud to work for the service and felt well supported. One staff member told us, “The manager is so very supportive. I could not ask for more.”

People continued to be protected from the potential risk of abuse. Individual risks were identified, and steps taken to reduce them. Staff had the guidance they needed to minimise harm to people whilst supporting independence.

Staffing levels were monitored so there were enough staff to meet people's needs. Recruitment practices were safe to ensure people were protected from the risk of unsuitable staff.

The service had systems and processes in place to safely administer and record medicines use. Medicines were administered in a timely manner. Some medicines with additional administration requirements were not being given according to the additional warning information. This was immediately addressed. Prescribed medicines and those awaiting return to the pharmacy were stored safely and securely.

We were assured that the service could respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 30 August 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by our data insight that assesses potential risks at services, concerns in relation to aspects of care provision and previous ratings. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. This enabled us to look at the concerns raised and review the previous ratings.

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.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns. The overall rating for the service remains Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Mayflower Care Centre our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.