About the service Rivermede Court is a residential care home providing personal care to 23 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The home can accommodate up to 80 people in one adapted building. The home opened just prior to the pandemic and was in the process of increasing the occupancy. The management team explained that they wanted to ensure new admissions to the home were completed in a safe way. People are currently supported across two separate wings. The ground floor was a residential setting and on the second floor was an area dedicated to people living with dementia. The first floor was empty, however was being utilised by office staff, to support staff training and internal visits.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were supported by caring staff who were compassionate and respectful to people’s individual needs and preferences. We saw staff supporting people with care and people responded well to staff. There was a friendly atmosphere in the home with people and staff regularly heard laughing and enjoying themselves.
Staff ensured people were safe from any risks of harm. This was ensured by detailed risk assessments that were in place and safeguarding policies and procedures.
People received their medicines by trained staff who were subject to competency checks. People also received a balanced diet with lots of various options throughout meal times. People told us that they were very happy with the food choices that were offered to them.
People were supported to access healthcare professionals and staff worked well with other social care professionals.
People received person centred care. This included activities to meet people’s interests and staff supported people in a way which matched their preferences. People enjoyed showing us the different activities that were offered to them and felt involved with the choices that were made.
People, relatives and staff felt involved with the running of the service. Audits were thorough to ensure a high standard of care was maintained.
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.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
This service was registered with us on 10/10/2018 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about recent safeguarding referrals that included concerns around medicines management, unwitnessed falls and mental capacity assessments. In addition to this being an unrated service a decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.
We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and effective sections of this full report.
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.
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.