Updated 20 March 2015
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
The inspection was unannounced, which meant that the home’s management, staff and people using the service did not know the inspection was going to take place. The inspection visit was carried out over two days; 23 January 2015 and 28 January 2015. The inspection was carried out by an adult social care inspector.
During the inspection we spoke with five staff, the home’s manager, a senior member of the provider’s management team, one relative of a person using the service, and three people who were using the service at the time of the inspection. We also checked the personal records of five of the 12 people who were using the service at the time of the inspection. We checked records relating to the management of the home, team meeting minutes, training records, medication records and records of quality and monitoring audits carried out by the home’s management team and members of the provider’s senior management team.
We observed care taking place in the home, and observed staff undertaking various activities, including handling medication, supporting people to eat and using specific pieces of equipment to support people’s mobility. In addition to this, we undertook a Short Observation Framework for Inspection (SOFI) SOFI is a specific way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We also contacted the local authority to gain their view of the service provided.
Before the inspection, we asked the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. The provider told us they did not receive this request. They completed a PIR and sent this to CQC after the inspection. We also reviewed records we hold about the provider and the location, including notifications that the provider had submitted to us, as required by law, to tell us about certain incidents within the home.