We carried out a review of the data available to us about Karenza Care Home on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Karenza Care Home, you can give feedback on this service.
We found the following examples of good practice.
¿Protocols for visiting were in place to minimise the risk of infection being acquired and transmitted.
¿A property to the rear of the home was used for visiting to prevent a need for relatives having to enter the home.
¿Visits by friends and relatives were enabled on an appointment only basis.
¿People could use video and telephone methods to maintain contact with family and friends.
¿Adequate stocks of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) were available for staff, family members and professional visitors to the home. Staff were wearing the required PPE.
¿Adequate stocks of COVID tests were available. Regular COVID testing of people and staff were undertaken to prevent infection outbreaks and spread.
¿Staff worked closely with infection control professionals to ensure infection outbreaks could be effectively prevented.
¿The environment was clean. Staff carried out cleaning throughout each day to minimise the risk of spreading infection.
¿Staff had received infection prevention training.
¿A COVID file was available to staff that included policies and procedures and updates from key organisations such as Public Health England.
Karenza care home provides accommodation and personal care for a maximum of 8 people under the age of 65 and specialises in the care of people who may have dementia.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Risks to people’s safety had been assessed and action was taken to reduce risks where possible. People were kept safe by staff who knew how to identify and report any concerns of abuse. There were sufficient numbers of staff to support people and medicines were managed in a safe way.
People and staff felt the service was well led. There were systems in place to monitor quality and people were given opportunity to feedback on the quality of the service. The provider was open and transparent where things had gone wrong and had been proactive in making improvements where needed.
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 18 June 2019).
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted in part by notification of a specific incident. Following which a person had absconded from the service.
The information CQC received about the incident indicated concerns around supervision and the security of the premises. This inspection examined those risks.
We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the Safe and Well Led sections of this full report. 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.
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.
Karenza care home provides accommodation and personal care for a maximum of 8 people under the age of 65 and specialises in the care of people who may have dementia.
People’s experience of using this service:
People were kept safe and secure from risk of harm. Potential risks to people had been assessed and managed appropriately by the provider. People received their medicines safely and as prescribed and were supported by sufficient numbers of staff to ensure that risk of harm was minimised.
Staff had been recruited appropriately and had received relevant training, so they were able to support people with their individual care and support needs.
Staff sought people’s consent before providing care and support. 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 were treated with kindness and compassion. People’s rights to privacy was respected by the staff who supported them and their dignity was maintained. People were supported to express their views and be actively involved in making decisions about their care and support needs.
People’s choices and independence were respected and promoted. Staff responded appropriately to people’s support needs. People received care from staff that knew them well.
People using the service were confident about approaching the registered manager if they needed to. The provider had effective auditing systems in place to monitor the effectiveness and quality of service provision. The views of people on the quality of the service was gathered and used to support service development.
Rating at last inspection:
At our last inspection in December 2015 we rated the service as good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.
Why we inspected:
This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection. The service remained rated as Good overall.
Follow up:
We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.
This inspection took place on 22 July 2015 and was unannounced. The inspection was carried out by one inspector. We last inspected this home on 8 July 2013. There were no breaches of legal requirements at that inspection.
Karenza care home provides care and accommodation for up to eight people under the age of 65 and specialises in the care of people who may have dementia.
There was 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.
People told us that they felt safe in the home and families told us they felt confident that their relatives were cared for by people who knew how to keep them safe. Staff were able to tell us how they kept people safe, identified any risks to people and what actions they had taken to keep them safe.
People living at the home, their relatives and staff alike, all felt there were enough staff in place to keep them safe and meet their needs. The registered manager had recently changed her hours of working and the provider had made arrangements for management cover to accommodate this.
Medication was stored and secured appropriately and audits had identified some errors which had been rectified. Where people were prescribed medication that had to be administered, ‘as and when required’ there was little information available to advise staff as to in what circumstances the medication should be given which could result in this medication being administered inconsistently.
People and their families spoke warmly of the staff group and the care and support they received. They felt the staff group were well trained to do their job and knew them well enough to meet their all of their needs.
Staff obtained consent from people before they provided care and support. The registered manager and staff all had an understanding of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and what this meant for people living in the home.
People were supported to eat and drink enough to keep them healthy and were supported to make their own drinks and meals where appropriate. People were supported to access a variety of healthcare professionals to ensure their healthcare needs were met and were assisted to see their GP as and when required.
People living at the home told us that staff were caring and kind and knew them well. People were supported to maintain their independence where possible.
Staff were aware of the activities people enjoyed and what was of interest to them. People were supported to take part in activities both in the home and in the community. Activities were planned on a weekly basis and people were encouraged to tell staff what they would like to do and efforts were made to accommodate these requests.
People told us that they had no concerns or complaints about the home but knew how to complain and who to. They were confident that if they did complain, they would be listened to and their concerns acted upon.
People living at the home, their relatives and staff all thought that the home was well led. Visitors to the home felt welcomed and included.
Staff enjoyed their work and felt supported and listened to. They spoke positively about the provider and the registered manager and understood the vision the provider had for the home.
Regular meetings took place with people living at the home. Their views were sought and taken on board. The provider had introduced a number of quality audits in order to monitor care provided and where accidents or incidents had taken place, lessons were learnt.
We spoke with two people who lived there, two relatives, four staff and a visiting professional. One person said, 'I like living here the staff help me and take me out.' One relative spoken with said, 'This place stands for everything that is good about dementia care for younger people.'
People were involved in decisions about their care and were asked for their consent before care was given. Where people did not have full mental capacity to consent, care was provided in their best interests.
We looked at the records for four people. Staff had information to support people with their needs in the way they preferred. People were involved in a variety of interesting activities. One person said, 'I go to the temple and the shops. We go on holiday every year.'
People were offered food, drinks and snacks that they liked and were supported and encouraged to eat and drink sufficiently to prevent their ill health.
All staff had received training including caring for people with dementia so that they had the knowledge to support the people safely in the way that they chose.
Robust audit systems were in place for monitoring and improving the quality of the service for people living in the home.
We saw that people were involved in making choices about what they wanted to do and what they ate and drank. We saw one person being supported by staff to go to the gym and then visit their family.
The home assessed, planned and delivered care that met people's individual needs. There were appropriate risk assessments in place to maintain the safety of people.
Staff knew how to support people to meet their needs when needed, referred people to other health professionals. Staff followed advice from other professionals to ensure people's health and well being.
People told us they were happy living at the home and felt safe. One person said "I like it here, I feel safe here".
Staff knew how to safeguard people from harm and felt confident that if they had to report any abuse, action would be taken to protect people.
There were systems in place to make sure that any risks to people's safety and welfare could be identified and improvements could be made. People's views were being sought and where concerns had been raised action had been taken to make improvements.