Primecare is a residential care home providing personal care to up to 41 people aged 65 and over. At the time of the inspection, 30 people were using the service.People’s experience of using this service and what we found
At the inspection we found the service did not have effective arrangements in place to identify and manage risks appropriately to support people to stay safe and protect them from harm. People at risk of falls did not always have the equipment they needed, and safety concerns were not always identified or acted upon.
Individual care plans were in place, but these were not always reflective of people’s needs and how risks should be managed. People were not being repositioned in line with their care plan.
Staff had access to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and were subject to regular testing to identify if they were symptomatic or had contracted COVID 19. However, we were not assured the provider was doing all that was practical to ensure COVID 19 outbreaks could be prevented. The service was not consistently following the government guidance, about how to operate safely during the COVID 19 pandemic, in areas such as the wearing of masks, handwashing and social distancing.
Safeguarding procedures were not fully understood and incidents escalated by the management team.
Staff told us there were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs and they were supported by the management team. There was a lack of social activities taking place and the registered manager told us they were recruiting to this role. Relatives told us individual staff were helpful.
We found shortfalls in the way the service was led, and governance arrangements did not ensure the delivery of quality and safe care. Audits did not identify the shortfalls found as part of this inspection and there was no effective improvement plan in place to drive improvements and change.
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 requires improvement (published 6 December 2019).
The service remains rated requires improvement. This is the second consecutive inspection where the service has been rated Requires Improvement.
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about areas of concern including medicines, the oversight of risk, staffing and the management of the service. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.
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 coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Primecare on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.