Primrose Court Care Home

Primrose Court Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care to up to 20 people. The service provides support to older people and people living with dementia. At the time of our inspection, there were 15 people using the service.

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

Records around risks to people were not always robust. The provider did not always have effective systems in place to ensure that accurate, up to date and contemporaneous records were kept for people who used the service. Up to date care plans were not always in place and, in areas, care plans were not fully person-centred. There were some gaps in employment records and audits had not identified all the issues found on inspection.

There were enough staff on duty to keep people safe. People were kept safe from the risk of abuse and staff understood their safeguarding responsibilities. Medicines were managed safely, and people received their medicines as prescribed. The service was clean and tidy. The provider and registered manager were committed to learning lessons when things went wrong and improving the quality of care.

People were supported to eat and drink enough to maintain a balanced diet. Staff had the right skills, experience and training to safely support people. Staff worked well with other agencies and made timely and appropriate referrals. The service was adapted to meet people’s needs, with different communal spaces for people to use.

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.

Staff were kind and caring. Staff supported people to express their views and make their own decisions. Staff treated people with dignity and respect and encouraged people to be independent wherever possible.

People and relatives were consulted about their care plans. Staff knew people’s verbal and non-verbal communication cues well. People were supported to develop and maintain relationships. There were no restrictions on visiting and visitors were made welcome in the service. There was no activities co-ordinator at the time of the inspection, but recruitment was ongoing. Not everyone had end of life care plans in place, but this had been identified by the registered manager and work around this was ongoing.

There was a positive, kind and caring culture within the home. The registered manager was approachable and supportive. Relatives and people were kept up to date and told if anything went wrong. The registered manager engaged well with staff, people and relatives, through regular meetings and questionnaires.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability.

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 good (report published 19 May 2021). We only reviewed the domains of safe and well-led at the last inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection to assess the standard of care delivered by staff.

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.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified breaches in relation to record keeping at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from 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 continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Primrose Court Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care to nine older people some who may be living with dementia at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 20 people.

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

People and their relatives spoke positively about the caring, friendly nature of the service. There was a new manager in post, and we received positive feedback about the improvements made to the service. Regular checks ensured care plans were up to date and included information to provide safe, person centred support.

We were assured that people were supported safely with good infection control practices followed. The home was clean and tidy. Some areas were dated. The provider had commenced improvements to refresh the décor, including flooring and further works were planned.

People received their medicines safely as prescribed. Associated records were in place and completed by trained staff. The manager was looking into enhanced training in medicines to ensure staff remained up to date with best practice.

Systems and processes in place ensured people were safe from avoidable harm. A range of quality audits and checks were completed. Plans were in place to enhance these further to ensure required preventative actions were implemented to keep people safe.

Enough suitable staff were supported by the manger and all worked well as a team with other health professionals where additional support was required. The manager had strengthened links with the local authority and the clinical lead to help people live the best lives possible.

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 the service under the previous provider was Inadequate (published 16/10/2020) 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.

This service has been in Special Measures since the last inspection. During this inspection the provider demonstrated that improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 12 August 2020. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment, staffing, good governance and safeguarding people from abuse and improper treatment.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from inadequate to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Primrose Court Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.