Ledbury Intermediate Care Unit

Updated 7 February 2019

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 checked whether the provider is 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: This inspection was carried out by one inspector and an assistant inspector. This service was selected to be part of our national review, looking at the quality of oral health care support for people living in care homes. The inspection team also included a dental inspector who looked in detail at how well the service supported people with their oral health. This includes support with oral hygiene and access to dentists. We will publish our national report of our findings and recommendations in 2019.

Service and service type: Ledbury Intermediate Care Unit is a care home service with nursing. 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 had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.

Notice of inspection: This inspection was unannounced.

What we did when preparing for and carrying out this inspection: We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse; and we sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We assessed the information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection, we spent time with people in the communal areas of the home and we saw how staff supported the people they cared for. We spoke with five people who lived at the home and three relatives to find out their views of the quality of the care provided. We spoke with eight members of staff including the provider’s representative, the registered manager, a member of catering staff and five care staff. The views of two visiting health and social care professionals were also obtained.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people's care records and multiple medication records. We also looked at records relating to the management of the home. These included systems for managing any complaints, and the checks undertaken by the registered manager on the quality of care provided.

Updated 7 February 2019

What life is like for people using this service:

• People living at Ledbury Intermediate Care Unit and were supported by staff who promoted their independence and respected them.

• Care plans reflected people’s needs and people, their relatives and other health and social care professionals input. This helped to ensure people’s needs on admission to the home and when they returned to their own home were always considered.

• People had access to the healthcare they needed. The registered manager had put systems in place to ensure working across organisations helped people to achieved good health outcomes.

• Staff understood people’s safety needs well and supported people so their individual risks were reduced, and people’s medicines were regularly reviewed and checked.

•People were supported to have their medicines regularly, by staff who had the skills and knowledge to do this.

• There were sufficient staff to care for people at the time people wanted.

• The environment at the home was regularly checked, and the risk of accidental harm or infections was reduced as staff used the resources and equipment provided to do this.

• Staff had received training and developed the skills they needed to care for people. Staff were supported to maintain and enhance their professional qualifications. This helped staff to provide good care to people.

• People, their relatives and other health and social care professionals told us staff knew people’s care preferences well, and supported people in the ways they preferred.

• People’s health needs were assessed and plans put in place based on their individual needs, so people would enjoy a good level of well-being.

• People were supported to keep in touch with others who were important to them.

• People were supported to enjoy a range of activities which reflected their interests, and enhanced their lives.

• People, their relatives, staff and other health and social care professionals were encouraged to make any suggestions for improving the care provided and the service further.

• The registered manager and staff reviewed the care provided, so improvements in people’s care would be driven through.

• The registered manager planned to review how people’s care preferences was recorded, and was further developing the information available to people, so they would know the full breadth of support available to them.

• We found the service met the characteristics of a “Good” rating in all areas; More information is available in the full report

Rating at last inspection: Good. The last report for Ledbury Intermediate Care Unit was published on 11 August 2016.

About the service: Ledbury Intermediate Care Unit is a is a residential care home with nursing and rehabilitation services, providing short-term personal care and accommodation for people who require support following an incident at home, or support following illness. Thirteen people were living at the home at the time of our inspection. People living at Ledbury Intermediate Care Unit live with physical disabilities. Ledbury Intermediate Care Unit provides care and accommodation to the whole population, including people at the end of their lives.

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection. The service remained rated Good overall.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.