4 May 2022
During a routine inspection
Keats House is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to seven people with mental health needs. There were seven people using the service at the time of our inspection
Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
There were systems in place to protect people from the risk of infection and staff had received appropriate training in this. Overall, the service was clean and hazard-free. However, as identified in our previous inspection, there were areas of the kitchen which still required deep cleaning and repair.
Risks to people’s safety and wellbeing were appropriately assessed and mitigated, however risk assessments lacked clarity when describing actions taken to reduce risk. People had COVID-19 risk assessments in place but these did not identify people’s individual characteristics.
There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and these were mostly effective. Although the provider had made improvements, we found some concerns identified at our last inspection were repeated at this inspection. For example, monitoring checks had failed to identify and address the kitchen cleanliness and repair issues we found.
People’s healthcare and nutritional needs were met. People were supported to access healthcare professionals and to attend appointments as needed.
Medicines were managed safely and people who used the service received these as prescribed.
The provider sought feedback from people. People and staff were confident they could raise any concerns they had with the registered manager and felt they would be listened to. We received positive feedback from people who used the service. People said staff were caring and treated them with dignity and respect.
There were enough staff to support people and meet their needs. Staff were recruited appropriately, and all checks were in place. Staff received an induction, training and supervision and felt supported in their roles.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
The registered manager and senior staff were responsive to and worked in partnership with other agencies to meet people’s needs.
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 requires improvement (published 5 November 2020). The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement for the last five consecutive inspections.
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
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.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.
Enforcement and Recommendations
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 take further action if needed.
We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment and well-led at this inspection.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
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 continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.