Background to this inspection
Updated
8 July 2021
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.
As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.
Inspection team
This inspection was completed by two inspectors.
Service and service type
St Vincents Retirement Home 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 did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission at the time of the inspection. The deputy manager was acting manager in the absence of a registered manager. The deputy manager will be referred to as ‘acting manager’ throughout this report. A manager had been recruited by the provider and was due to start at the service following the inspection. This new manager is planning to complete the registration process with the Care Quality Commission.
Notice of inspection
This inspection was unannounced.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed the information we had received about the service, including previous inspection reports and notifications. Notifications are information about specific important events the service is legally required to send to us.
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 seven people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with nine members of staff including the provider, the acting manager, the services head of departments, the nominated individual and care and ancillary staff. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.
We reviewed the safety of the environment, medicine processes, infection control processes and observed interactions between staff and people.
We reviewed a range of records, including people’s care records and risk assessments. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, quality assurance records, training information and records of accidents and incidents were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We received feedback from four professionals who have regular contact with the service and two relatives.
Updated
8 July 2021
About the service
St Vincents Retirement Home is a ‘care home’ registered to provide accommodation and personal care for up to 25 people in one adapted building. At the time of the inspection 18 people were living at the home.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were happy living at St Vincents Retirement Home and spoke very positively about the care they received.
Recruitment practices were effective and there were sufficient numbers of staff available to meet people's needs in a safe and unhurried way. People were protected from avoidable harm and individual, environmental and infection control risks were managed appropriately.
People received their prescribed medicines as required. There were safe arrangements in place for obtaining, storing and disposing of medicines.
People's care plans and risk assessments contained detailed information about them and their care and support needs, to help staff deliver care that was individual to each person.
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 to access appropriate healthcare services when required. Health and social care professionals were confident in the staff’s abilities to manage people’s health needs. Staff had received appropriate training and support to enable them to carry out their role safely. They received regular supervision to help develop their skills and support them in their role.
People’s needs were met in a personalised way. Staff knew the people they supported well and had a good understanding of their needs. People were supported to partake in a range of activities centred around their particular interests.
The service had a positive person-centred culture. Both people and staff told us the management team were approachable. The service worked in partnership with other agencies to aid joined up, person centred care provision.
Effective and robust quality assurance systems had been developed and implemented to continually assess, monitor and improve the quality of care people received.
The management team was open, approachable and supportive. Everyone was confident they would take actions to address any concerns promptly.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 26 March 2020) and there were multiple breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
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 changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings 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.