Archived: Spencer House

Updated 30 August 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:

One inspector and an Expert by Experience carried out this inspection on the 25 and 26 July 2019. 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:

Spencer House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. Spencer House accommodates up to 25 older people in one adapted building. At the time of the inspection 19 people were living at the service.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they together with 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 was a comprehensive inspection and was unannounced.

What we did:

Before the inspection the provider completed a Provider Information Return. Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last comprehensive inspection on 13 and 14 June 2018. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse or serious injury.

We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection, we spoke with 13 people that used the service and four relatives of people that used the service. We spoke with the provider, the registered manager, three staff and the activities organiser. We reviewed a range of records. This included four people's care records and medicine records. We also looked at three staff recruitment records, assessment, supervision and support records and reviewed records relating to the management of the service, staff training and policies and procedures.

After the inspection we continued to seek clarification from the registered manager to validate evidence found.

Updated 30 August 2019

About the service:

Spencer House is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to 19 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 25 people.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were treated with kindness, respect and compassion. We saw staff listening to people, answering questions and taking an interest in what people were saying.

People were supported to express their views and be actively involved in making decisions about their care and support. People's privacy, dignity and independence were respected and promoted. One person said, “I cannot fault it here, I am safe, happy and content living here.”

People were protected from abuse. Staff received regular safeguarding training, knew how to identify potential signs of abuse and knew how to report concerns. Risks to people and the environment were assessed and minimised. Risks associated with people’s care had been identified and appropriate risk assessments were in place.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the provider policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People’s needs were met by the adaptation, design and decoration of the service.

People had good relationships with staff, who were knowledgeable of their support needs, as well as likes, dislikes and interests. Staff were responsive to changes in people's health needs. If needed, they sought advice from relevant professionals.

There were enough staff to keep people safe and meet their needs.

The registered manager recruited staff with relevant experience and the right attitude to work with people. New staff were given an induction and all staff received on-going training.

People’s needs were assessed, and their care was delivered in line with current legislation.

People felt included in planning their care. The care plans used were consistently reviewed and updated.

Care planning informed staff what people could do independently and what staff needed to do to support people.

People could involve relatives and others who were important to them when they chose the care they wanted.

People told us they were listened to by the management of the service.

Staff supported people to maintain a balanced diet and monitor their nutritional health. People had access to GP’s and their health and wellbeing was supported by prompt referrals and access to medical care if they became unwell.

Medicines were stored and managed safely. There were policies and procedures in place for the safe administration of medicines. People received their medicines when they needed them from staff who had been trained and competency checked.

People were protected by the prevention and control of infection.

People felt comfortable raising any complaints with staff and the registered manager.

People were asked for feedback about the service they received.

People said the registered manager was approachable and supportive.

Accidents and incidents were reported by staff in line with the provider’s policy, and the registered manager took steps to ensure that lessons were learned when things went wrong.

The provider and registered manager made sure they monitored the service in various ways to ensure they continued to provide a good quality service that maintained people’s safety.

The provider, registered manager and staff were working with a clear vision for 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:

This service was rated, ‘Requires Improvement’ at the last inspection (published on 25 July 2018).

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.

At this inspection, we found the service met the characteristics of ‘Good’ in all key questions.

Why we inspected:

This was a comprehensive inspection scheduled based on the previous rating.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor the service.