Updated 6 July 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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
On 15 May 2019 an inspector, an assistant inspector and an Expert by Experience carried out the inspection. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.
Service and service type
Alexander 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.
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
This inspection was unannounced.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the provider registered with CQC in May 2018. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about. We also sought feedback from the local authority safeguarding and contracting teams. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with 13 people who used the service and two relatives to gain their views on the care provided. We spoke with the registered manager, the deputy manager, two senior care staff, a domestic, the cook and the activity organiser.
We reviewed a range of records including two people’s care records. We looked at three staff recruitment files, staff training records, accident, incident and complaint reports, documents relating to the management of medicines and quality monitoring records.