Dalton Court Care Home

Updated 28 March 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 3 inspectors.

Service and service type

Dalton Court Care Home is a ‘care home’ with nursing. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. 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 CQC 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 a registered manager in post.

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 and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 9 people that used the service. We spoke with 12 members of staff including a regional director, registered manager, deputy manager, nurses, care workers, housekeeper and a maintenance worker. We spoke with a health professional visiting the service.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 8 people’s care plans and multiple medicine records. We reviewed 3 staff recruitment records. A range of records relating to the management of the service including quality assurance checks, health and safety records, staff training records and a sample of the provider’s policies and procedures were also reviewed.

Updated 28 March 2023

About the service

Dalton Court Care Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 60 people. The service provides support to older people and people living with dementia and physical disability. At the time of our inspection there were 52 people living at the service.

The home accommodates people across two separate floors, each of which has separate adapted facilities. One of the floors specialises in providing care to people living with dementia.

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

People received safe care to meet their needs. Staff were kind and patient in their approach, to which people responded positively. People were protected from the risk of abuse and neglect. Risks to people were assessed and plans put in place to guide staff in how to support people safely whilst respecting their wishes and preferences.

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.

The service had a positive culture that was person-centred. Managers were committed to people receiving high quality, safe care. People and staff had opportunities to provide feedback on the service to inform changes. The service had clear and effective governance and management arrangements in place to ensure people received consistent and good care. The provider and registered manager were committed to making ongoing improvements at the service to benefit people’s wellbeing.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 12 August 2022). There was a breach in regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out as part of our response to winter pressures in the NHS. We reviewed the evidence we held about the location, which suggested the rating may have improved to at least good and that an improved rating would create additional capacity within the service.

This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led. 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 Dalton Court Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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