Background to this inspection
Updated
5 May 2021
The inspection
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.
Inspection team
The inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type
Adjuvo Care Essex Limited - Brightlingsea is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.
Notice of inspection
This inspection was unannounced.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We used observations to gather evidence of people’s experience of care and we spoke with four members of staff. We reviewed a range of records including two people’s care and medicines records and a variety of records relating to the management of the service.
After the inspection
We spoke with three relatives about their experience of the care provided. We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found on inspection and we reviewed training data and quality assurance documentation.
Updated
5 May 2021
About the service
Adjuvo Care Essex Limited - Brightlingsea is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to nine people with a learning disability. At the time of the inspection five people were living in the service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were not protected from the risk of harm. The provider had not implemented safe fire practices and documentation was not available to enable staff to support people safely in the event of a fire.
Staff did not have access to information about how to support one person living in the service. No information about risks to their safety was available and this meant staff may not know how to support them appropriately. The provider had not ensured staff had the appropriate skills and knowledge to support them in their roles.
The provider did not have robust processes in place to ensure they had oversight of the safety and quality of the service. The concerns found at inspection had not been identified by the checks and audits completed by the provider.
Relatives and staff did not feel able to raise concerns. Relatives told us communication from the provider was poor and they lacked confidence in the leadership of the service.
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 (published 20 February 2019)
Why we inspected
We received concerns in relation to people’s safety and the management of risk at the service. 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 COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.
We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.
The overall rating for the service has changed from Good to Inadequate. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvement. Please see the Safe and Well-Led sections of this full report.
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 Adjuvo Care Essex Limited - Brightlingsea on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
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 discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.
We have identified breaches in relation to how the provider ensures people are being kept safe and in their oversight of the service.
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 return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures’. This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider’s registration, we will re-inspect within 6 months to check for significant improvements.
If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe. And there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions the registration.
For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months. If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect it. And it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions it will no longer be in special measures.