Trecarrel Care Home

Updated 5 July 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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and a bank inspector.

Service and service type

Treccarrel 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. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and we looked at both during this inspection.

Registered manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

At the time of our inspection there was a manager in post who was in the process of registering with the CQC to become the registered manager.

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 also reviewed information that we held about the service such as notifications. We used information sent to us by the provider in their PIR. 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 used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We reviewed 4 people's care plans and risk assessments. We reviewed staff training and supervision. We also reviewed other records relating to the management of the service. We spoke with the 6 people who lived at Tracarrel Care Home, 9 staff, the manager and the deputy. We spoke with 3 relatives during the 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 5 July 2023

About the service

Trecarrel Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care to up to 44 people. The service provides support to older people and people living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 40 people using the service.

Trecarrel is part of the Cornwallis Care Services Ltd group of care homes based in Cornwall.

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

The provider had effective safeguarding systems in place and staff knew what actions to take to help ensure people were protected from harm or abuse.

People received their medicines as prescribed. Regular checks and audits of the medicines management system were effective.

The recruitment processes were thorough. New staff confirmed they received support and induction before working alone. There were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs. Most staff were happy and many had worked at Trecarrel Care Home for several years.

The service was clean and decorated to a good standard. There were no malodours.

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 worked within the principles of the MCA and sought people's consent before providing personal care and assistance. Care plans guided staff to help build independence wherever possible.

Identified risks were assessed and monitored. Care plans contained guidance and direction for staff on how to meet people’s needs.

People’s views and experiences of the food provided at Trecarrel had been sought. A recent survey received mixed responses. Food looked appetising and there were staff available to support people where needed. However, some staff did not always support some people appropriately with their meal. We have made a recommendation about this in the effective section of this report.

The manager, deputy manager and the provider had effective oversight of the service. There was a robust audit programme in place to help identify any areas of the service that may require improvement.

People, staff and relatives were being asked for their views and experiences by the manager. Staff meetings were held to share information and seek their views. The manager was supporting some staff with an issue of disharmony in the team.

The manager understood their responsibilities under the duty of candour. Relatives were kept informed of any changes in people’s needs or incidents that occurred.

The management team and staff worked closely with local health and social care professionals to meet people’s needs.

For more information, please read the detailed findings section of this report. If you are reading this as a separate summary, the full report can be found on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection:

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (30 November 2022). We carried out an unannounced inspection of this service on 14 October 2022. A breach of legal requirements was found in relation to inconsistent leadership.

Why we inspected

We undertook this focused inspection to check if the provider had made improvements and if they were now meeting the legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe, effective and well-led.

We had also received safeguarding concerns from a member of the public which were being investigated by the manager at the time of this inspection.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement 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 Trecarrel 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.