Background to this inspection
Updated
26 May 2021
The inspection
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was 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.
Inspection team
The inspection was carried out by three inspectors. Two inspectors visited the home. One inspector gathered information from the head of service via telephone conversations and email and spoke with staff and relatives over the telephone.
Service and service type
Laurel Drive is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided and both were looked at during this inspection.
The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. The registered manager and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
Our inspection was announced. We gave the provider 24 hours’ notice of our visit because the service was inspected during the coronavirus pandemic and we wanted to be sure we were informed of the service’s coronavirus risk assessment for visiting healthcare professionals before we entered the building.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed the information we had received about the services. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
During our on-site visit to the service, we observed staff interactions with people and spoke with the head of service, home manager and members of care staff on shift. We reviewed two people’s care plans, risk management and medicine records in detail. We looked at a sample of records relating to the management of the service, policies and procedures and a sample of completed audits and checks.
During our off-site work we spoke with two people’s relatives and two staff. We also had conversations with the head of service, regional manager and home manager.
After the inspection
We reviewed additional documentation we had requested from the provider.
Updated
26 May 2021
About the service
2 Laurel Drive is a residential home, providing care and accommodation for up to five people. It provides care to people living with a learning disability and other support needs including physical disabilities. At the time of our inspection visit four people lived at the home.
People's experience of using this service and what we found
People were supported safely and in a timely way. Most staff had completed the training they needed and had the skills and experience to support people safely. A few staff were still in the process of completing training. Some staff told us they had not taken part in fire drills. Immediate action was taken on this by the head of service.
There were sufficient numbers of staff on shift and staff had enough time to read people’s plans of care and understand any risks to their health and how to manage them.
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 spoke positively about the new manager who had applied to become registered with us. The manager had undertaken audits which had identified some areas for improvement which they planned to work on. This included ensuring risk assessments were person centred.
Relatives had not always felt as involved as they wished to be in their loved ones’ care. However, COVID-19 restrictions had meant the manager had not always been able to meet relatives face to face. Plans were now in place for increased relative involvement as COVID-19 restrictions eased.
Immediate action had been taken by the provider following us contacting them prior to our visit to ensure risk management related to COVID-19 infection prevention and agency staff was implemented. During our visit, we undertook an 'infection prevention control' audit. We found the provider was now consistently following government guidelines. Risks related to Covid-19 were now consistently well managed.
People were supported with their medicines as prescribed by trained staff.
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was Good. (Report published 6 December 2018).
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we inspected
We undertook this focused inspection because emerging risks had been identified by us and other professional bodies related to another of this provider’s locations. We also had information of concern about some infection prevention measures at the home. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of Safe and Well Led only.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.