Archived: Stone House Residential Home

Stone House Residential Home is a care home providing personal care in one adapted building. The service provides support to 35 people. At the time of our inspection there were 26 people using the service.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Improvements were needed by the provider for the ongoing monitoring of people's living environment and records maintained at the service. People's care and support was monitored on a regular basis. The service worked with other agencies and health care professionals to meet people’s needs and wishes.

People received their medicines when needed. Risks to people were identified and where possible minimised. Systems were in place for infection prevention and control. People felt safe living at the service.

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. People were supported by staff who knew them well.

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.

People and family members spoke positively about the service provided at Stone House Residential Care Home. Comments included, “Very good service. I can’t speak highly enough of the service. They are marvellous” and “Family atmosphere, staff are very kind.”

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 January 2018)

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.

The overall rating for the service has remained good based on the findings of this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led section of this report. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Areas of risk identified during the inspection were addressed.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Stone House Residential Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Recommendations

We have made recommendations in this report relating to monitoring of people's living environment; records and management oversight.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

This was the first inspection of the service since it was registered in June 2016.

Stone 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. Stone House accommodates up to 35 people in one adapted building over two floors. There were 26 people accommodated at Stone House at the time of this inspection.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The registered manager was not present when we visited the service although arrangements had been made for a temporary manager to run the service to ensure continuity.

We have made a recommendation about care records. Records outlining the daily fluid intake of some people were maintained yet did not indicate daily targets for people to be achieved. While there was no evidence that this had a negative impact on people.

People told us that the felt safe living at Stone House and that they always received their medication when required. People told us that there was always staff around to assist them. Medication was well managed and promoted the health of people who used the service.

People lived in an environment that was clean and hygienic. The premises were well maintained with equipment being checked to ensure it was safe to use. The environment was designed to enable people to move around independently and remain safe.

People were further protected by the robust recruitment of new staff. The registered provider demonstrated that staff received up to date training on topics which related to the needs of people.

Staff were sufficient in number to meet the needs of people who used the service. Where shortfalls in staffing were identified, efforts were made to ensure that continuity could be maintained by using exiting staff to cover shifts.

Accidents and incidents were recorded and analysed to prevent future re-occurrence or identify future trends.

Staff received training and supervision which was suitable for their role. A structured induction process was in place enabling new staff to become familiar with their role and the needs of people who used the service.

The registered provider took the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act into consideration and ensured that the best interests of people were served.

The nutritional needs of people were met with people’s preferences respected. Food was well prepared in clean and hygienic facilities.

People felt that staff cared about them. Observations of care practice noted that people were treated in a respectful and dignified manner. Staff gave practical examples of how the privacy of people could be maintained.

Advocacy services were in place for individuals and consideration was given to ensuring that communication between staff and people whose first language was not English enabling their needs and preferences to be known.

Staff were aware of the likes and dislikes of people and individuals were able to personalise their rooms to their own tastes.

People’s care plans were checked on a regular basis to ensure they were accurate and up to date. Care plans included an acknowledgement of the health needs of people but also placed emphasis on their social history and interests. We saw that care practice matched the information included within care plans.

An activity programme was in place and ensured that people had the opportunity to join in if they wished.

People were provided with the opportunity to remain independent in pursuing their own interests both within and outside of the service and in maintaining their own personal care and management of medication.

People did not have any complaints but were confident that the registered manager would listen to them and act upon them. No complaints had been received by the service or CQC. There was evidence that some informal concerns were dealt with informally before formal complaints were made. This meant that a proactive approach was used in complaints management.

People told us that they felt that the service was well run. Staff told us that the management team were approachable. Arrangements had been put into place to ensure that arrangements had been made to ensure continuity while the registered manager was absent.

A number of audits were in place to assess the quality of care provided and the views of all concerns, such as people who used the service, families, staff and health professionals were gained to inform the quality of the service provided.

The registered provider understood the need to inform CQC of those incidents which adversely affected the wellbeing of people who lived at Stone House.

Community links were established between the service and local agencies.