Archived: Stoneleigh Care Home

Stoneleigh care home is a residential care home providing personal care for up to 36 people. The service provides support to younger adults, older people, those living with dementia, those with physical disabilities, those with learning disabilities and autistic people. At the time of our inspection there were 34 people using the service.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

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

People said they felt safe living in the home and with the staff who supported them. People and relatives spoke positively about staff and described them as kind and caring. Staff treated people with dignity and respect, and staff knew people’s needs well.

Staff were aware of safeguarding arrangements and knew what action to take to keep people safe. Risks to people were identified and detailed assessments were in place, to ensure risks were managed safely. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. Medicines were managed safely. The premises were clean, improvements had been made to the environment, and there were good infection control practices in place.

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.

Quality monitoring systems were effective in identifying and generating improvements. Feedback was sought from people who used the service, relatives and staff, and acted upon appropriately. Staff worked effectively with health and social care professionals which improved people’s wellbeing.

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 20 September 2017).

At our last inspection we recommended that the provider reviewed staffing levels to ensure there were enough staff to meet people's needs. At this inspection we found the provider had acted on this recommendation and improvements had been made.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

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

We found the following examples of good practice.

The registered manager had identified, assessed and mitigated all COVID-19 related risks to people, staff and visitors. The registered manager had an effective monitoring system in place to check that the service was following government guidance and the provider's own policies.

Staff were confident and knowledgeable about government guidance and what visitors were required to do prior to entering the service. Professional visitors were tested for COVID-19 at the service or provided a negative lateral flow test result from that day. Staff and people received regular testing for COVID-19 and emergency care givers were included in this testing programme.

The registered manager and staff told us that the local GP had gone above and beyond to support them during the pandemic and were thankful for their continued support.

People were encouraged and supported to leave the service to visit relatives or access the local community. Relatives were able to visit their family members either in their rooms or communal lounge areas.

Staff wore appropriate PPE and had access to this throughout the home. Staff told us the provider had always ensured they had enough PPE during the pandemic. Staff had received additional training during the pandemic about correct PPE usage and infection prevention and control from the provider.

We last inspected Stoneleigh on 12 and 16 February 2015 and rated the service as Good overall and the safe domain as Requires Improvement in relation to issues found with staffing levels. At this visit we this continued to rate the service as Good overall and Requires Improvement for the safe domain in relation to issues we found with the environment.

The service provides accommodation and personal care for up to 36 people. Stoneleigh care home is situated within the residential area of Annfield Plain. At the time of this inspection there were 33 people living at the home.

The service had a registered manager in place who was on leave at the time of our visit. 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.

We discussed with the regional manager that the décor on the first floor of the home appeared tired with paint on doorways and corridors being chipped and scuffed. We also discussed an area of carpet in the dining area that had no protective seal. The regional manager told us the carpet would be addressed immediately.

Staff understood their responsibilities with regard to safeguarding and staff had been trained in safeguarding vulnerable adults. People we spoke with told us they felt safe at the home.

Where potential risks had been identified an assessment had been completed to keep people as safe as possible. Accidents and incidents were logged and investigated with appropriate action taken to help keep people safe. Health and safety checks were completed and procedures were in place to deal with emergency situations.

Medicines were managed safely. We saw medicines being administered to people in a safe and caring way. People confirmed they received their medicines at the correct time and they were always made available to them.

We found there were sufficient care staff deployed to provide people’s care in a timely manner. When we first arrived at the home, the senior carer was in charge and undertaking the administration of medicines so we had to wait some time to access the office which was perfectly acceptable. There were several staff on holiday but we noted that until one staff member came in following an appointment, the senior carer was kept very busy with medicines, telephone calls and visiting professionals. We have made a recommendation about staffing levels within the service.

We found that recruitment checks were carried out to ensure that staff were suitable to work with vulnerable people such as identification checks.

Staff received the support and training they required to meet people’s needs. Records confirmed training, supervisions and appraisals were up to date and pre planned for the future. Staff told us they were supported to develop themselves personally and professionally by the home’s management.

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

People gave positive feedback about the meals they were served at the home. Some people had been referred to external healthcare professionals for additional specialist support, for example those with diabetes.

People were supported by care staff who were aware of how to protect their privacy and dignity and show them respect at all times.

People’s needs were assessed before they came to live at the service and then personalised care plans were developed and regularly reviewed to support staff in caring for people they way they preferred.

An activity coordinator was in place but people told us that activities had recently been ‘sporadic’ with the holiday season as the activity staff member had sometimes covered care shifts.

The home had an established registered manager. People and staff gave us positive feedback about the registered manager and said they were approachable.

The provider had an effective complaints procedure in place and people who used the service and family members were aware of how to make a complaint. Feedback systems were in place to obtain people’s views about the quality of the service.

The provider carried out a range of internal and external quality assurance audits to monitor the quality of people’s care. We also saw that health and safety checks were carried out on the building and environment.

We found the provider had made suitable arrangements to manage and store peoples' medicines safely.

We also found the provider had taken steps to make sure only suitable people were employed to work in the care home. This was because thorough background checks had been carried out.

We found there was a complaints system in place and people were supported to use it when they wanted to raise a concern or complaint.

We found the provider had taken steps to improve the environment. For example, all but one bathroom had been refurbished, carpets had been replaced throughout the home and many people's bedrooms had been redecorated and refurbished. We also saw the laundry had been significantly improved. The laundress told us 'Its wonderful now. It was horrendous before.'

All of these measures showed people were provided with an environment that was well maintained and suitably designed.