South Quay Care Home

South Quay is a care home which provides accommodation and care for up to 58 people across two separate wings in a purpose-built building. One wing provided nursing and personal care for older people. The other wing provided nursing and personal care for those with a neurological condition. There were 45 people using the service at the time of inspection.

People's experience of using this service and what we found

People and relatives spoke positively of staff and how they helped keep people safe.

Risks to people's health and safety were regularly assessed and monitored to ensure they were kept safe. The provider had safeguarding systems, policies and procedures in place to keep people safe. Staff understood these.

The environment was clean, safe and well maintained. There had been some recent refurbishments and the outdoor space was extremely well maintained.

Staff were recruited safely. They received ongoing training, supervision and competence checks to monitor their performance.

Medicines were managed safely by suitably trained staff. Systems and process were well established to ensure good practice was in place.

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 enjoyed mealtimes and the options available. People’s nutritional needs were well supported.

Activities had reduced during the pandemic and, more recently and significantly, during an outbreak. There was an activities coordinator and plans in place to increase the range of activities.

The registered manager had positive working relationships with external healthcare professionals. Staff worked well with specialists when people’s needs changed and more help was needed.

Staff said there had been improvements to the culture and felt they could talk to the registered manager. Staff morale had improved.

Clear systems were in place for sharing key information on a daily basis.

The registered manager had made a range of improvements to the service, notably a reduction in reliance on agency staffing, and improvements to record-keeping.

The provider had monitoring systems in place to identify trends and patterns after specific incidents.

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 18 May 2020 and this is the first inspection.

The last rating for the service, under the previous provider, was requires improvement, published on 9 December 2019.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

South Quay is a care home which provides accommodation and care for up to 58 people across two separate wings. One wing provided nursing and personal care for older people. The other wing provided nursing and personal care for those with a neurological condition.

We found the following examples of good practice:

• All visitors had to undergo a temperature check and answer a range of relevant questions before entry. There was ample PPE, handwashing facilities and signage.

• The registered manager and deputy demonstrated an understanding of the principles of isolation and ‘zoning’ to keep people and staff safe.

• Movement of staff and people between floors was minimised. Staff had worked hard to continue to give people a level of continuity of care at a time when the provider was more reliant on agency staffing.

• The service was clean and appropriate staffing and cleaning regimes were in place to ensure this remained the case.