The Donnington Care Home

Updated 30 March 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.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

The Donnington 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.

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 before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority, the clinical commissioning group and professionals who work with the service. We checked records held by other agencies, such as the Information Commissioner’s Office, Companies House, the Food Standards Agency, the fire brigade and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

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

Most people remained in their bedrooms during our inspection and there were limited visitors due to the continued pandemic. To establish the quality of care provided to people, we observed the support they received and their interaction with staff members. We spoke with two people in the communal dining room. The Expert by Experience spoke with a further two people and six relatives by telephone. We received written feedback from another relative using the ‘Give Feedback on Care’ feature on our website.

We spoke with eight members of staff including the quality manager, registered manager, deputy manager, one registered nurse and two care workers, the maintenance officer and an administrator. We also contacted health and social care professionals in writing and received four responses. Their feedback has been considered as part of our inspection.

We reviewed a range of records. This included seven people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at staff training and supervision documents. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits, actions plans and policies were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 30 March 2021

About the service

The Donnington Care Home is a care home providing personal and nursing care for up to 40 adults. At the time of our inspection, 25 people lived at the service and there were 35 staff. The care home has two floors, with individual bedrooms, ensuite toilets and shared baths and shower facilities. There are communal areas such as lounge rooms and a dining room.

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

People, relatives and community-based professionals told us care was safe. Improvements were made to people’s risk assessments to ensure they contained information to support people in the right way. More oversight of the care documentation was completed by the registered manager and deputy manager to ensure that risks were properly identified and mitigated. People were protected from abuse and neglect. Recruitment processes were strengthened to ensure that the correct pre-employment checks were always completed.

People, relatives and healthcare professionals told us the service had improved since the registered manager commenced in post. The deputy manager and registered manager worked well to assess areas for improvement and take steps to ensure this occurred. There was a continuous improvement model in place, with an ongoing action plan to record updates on improvements. The quality assurance programme ensured that the service was well-led and achieved positive outcomes for people. There was positive feedback from people and relatives. They were able to have a say in how the service was led, provide suggestions and felt listened to. Community health and social care professionals confirmed the service worked in partnership with them.

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.

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

Rating at last inspection (and update)

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 17 May 2019) and there were three breaches of the regulations. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 8 April 2019 and 9 April 2019. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve risk assessments, personnel files and auditing of care.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

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 coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Donnington Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.