Keychange Charity Alexander House Care Home

Updated 21 October 2023

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.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

Keychange Charity Alexander House Care Home 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.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. Applicants were being interviewed for this post during the inspection. A seconded manager was in post up until 2 weeks before the inspection and cover was provided by the organisation’s senior management until an appointment was made.

Notice of inspection

Inspection activity started on 10 September 2023 and ended on 3 October 2023. The inspection visit on 13 September 2023 was unannounced, and the visit on 15 September was announced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed all the information we had received about the service. We used all this information to plan our inspection. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers 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.

During the inspection

We spoke in person with the manager. We also spoke with 4 people using the service, 3 relatives, 5 staff and 2 healthcare professionals to get their experience and views about the care provided. We reviewed a range of records. They included 4 staff files containing recruitment, training and supervision information, and 5 peoples’ files containing care and medicine records, risk assessments, care plans and reviews. We checked a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits, quality assurance, policies and procedures. We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We requested additional evidence to be sent to us after our inspection. This included staff rotas and training information, and provider quality assurance audits. We received the information which was used as part of our inspection.

We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

Updated 21 October 2023

About the service

Keychange Charity Alexander House Care Home is a care home that provides care and support for up to 20 people. At the time of our inspection there were 15 older people using the service including those with dementia. The care home accommodates people in one building.

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

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, their relatives and staff said that Keychange Charity Alexander House Care Home was a safe place to live and for staff to work in. Any risks to people were regularly assessed and reviewed. This meant people could take acceptable risks, enjoy their lives and live safely. Accidents, incidents and safeguarding concerns were reported, investigated and recorded. There were sufficient appropriately recruited staff to meet people’s needs. Trained staff safely administered medicines and prompted people to take them. When required staff used Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) effectively, safely and the infection prevention and control policy was up to date.

People and their relatives told us effective care was provided. People were not subject to discrimination and their equality and diversity needs were met. Staff were well trained and supervised. People and their relatives thought the care staff provided was good and met people’s needs. People were encouraged by staff, to discuss their health needs, any changes to them, and concerns were passed on to the management and appropriate health care professionals. This included any required transitioning of services if people’s needs changed. Staff protected people from nutrition and hydration risks and they were encouraged to choose healthy and balanced diets that also met their likes, dislikes and preferences.

People were provided with care and support in a friendly manner and staff paid attention to small details that made all the difference. People felt respected and staff acknowledged their privacy, dignity, and confidentiality. They were encouraged and supported to be independent and do things for themselves, where possible. This improved their quality of life by promoting their self-worth. Staff cared about people, were compassionate and passionate about the people they provided a service for.

The provider was responsive to people and their needs were assessed, reviewed and care plans were in place that included any communication needs. Staff provided people with person-centred care and they had choices, and were encouraged to follow their routines, interests and maintain contact with relatives and friends. They were also supported to interact with others living at the home so that social isolation was minimal. People and their relatives were given appropriate, easy to understand information about the home to make their own decisions regarding whether they wished to move in. Complaints were recorded and investigated.

The home’s interim management and leadership were visible and there was a culture of openness, positivity and honesty. Currently there was not a registered manager in place, although interviews were taking place during the inspection. The provider’s vision and values were clearly set out, understood by staff and they followed them. Areas of staff and management responsibility and accountability were identified, at all levels and a good service maintained and regularly reviewed. Thorough audits took place and records were kept up to date. Wherever possible community links and working partnerships were established and kept up to further minimise social isolation. Healthcare professionals told us that the service was well managed and met people’s needs in a professional, open and friendly way.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we inspected

The last rating for this service was Good (published 20 June 2018).

We undertook this inspection to check whether the service was continuing to provide a good, rated service to people.

The overall rating for the service has remained 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 Keychange Charity Alexander House Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.