Sherborne Court Neurological Centre

Updated 11 June 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:

This inspection was carried out by two inspectors, a specialist nurse advisor and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. Their area of expertise is learning disabilities and older people.

Service and service type:

Sherborne Court is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. The service accommodates up in 40 people in one purpose-built building. There were 30 people receiving a service on the day of the inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

The inspection was unannounced.

What we did:

Prior to the inspection, we reviewed the information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included information from other agencies and statutory notifications sent to us by the manager about events that had occurred at the service. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to tell us about by law. We also looked at information sent to us by the provider. 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 inspection.

During the inspection, we spoke with eight people who used the service and six relatives. Some people who used the service were not able to speak to us about their care experiences, so we observed how the staff interacted with people in communal areas.

We also spoke with several staff including, three care staff, two nurses, a domestic, maintenance person, physiotherapist, the registered manager and the regional manager. We also spoke with two visiting health and social care professionals.

We reviewed the care records of seven people. We looked at three staff files, which included pre-employment checks and training records. We looked at records relating to the management of the service. For example, rotas, complaint logs, accident reports, monthly audits and medicine administration records.

Updated 11 June 2019

About the service:

Sherborne Court Neurological Centre provides personal and nursing care to people with neurological conditions and brain injuries. The service accommodates up in 40 people in one purpose-built building. There were 30 people receiving a service on the day of the inspection.

People’s experience of using this service:

At our last inspection Sherborne Court was rated requires improvement and we found four breaches of regulation relating to safe care and treatment, safeguarding, staffing and good governance. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the service was no longer in breach of regulations.

Overall medicines were managed safely, however some further improvements were required to improve recording. The management team had already identified some of these issues and were acting to address them.

People and their relatives overall were positive about the service. They told us they felt safe and well cared for. There had been an increase to staffing levels, which were kept under review and adjusted accordingly.

People's choices and preferences were known to staff and respected. Staff were caring and respectful. People's privacy and dignity was promoted. There were some positive examples of good outcomes for people, which had improved their quality of life.

Care plans were in place and staff had focused on making improvements to the records. Aspects of some care plans would benefit from further person-centred detail. Risk were managed safely and improvements had been made in relation to risk assessment, especially nutritional risks.

The environment had undergone improvements and people had been consulted about the decoration. People were asked for consent before care was provided and staff complied with The Mental Capacity Act (MCA) to ensure people’s rights were protected.

Staff were supported through supervision and training. There was an effective in-house team of specialist support, which ensured people’s needs were fully assessed and supported to achieve goals and gain independence, where possible. People were supported with a range of activities and to go out into the community.

The provider and registered manager now had an effective quality assurance system. The registered manager was responsive and approachable to both people that used the service and staff. They had a clear understanding of their responsibilities of their registration with us.

Rating at last inspection: Requires Improvement (Last report published 6 June 2018)

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service though the information we receive.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk