25 October 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Abbey Care Complex is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 50 people. The service provides support to predominantly older people, many of whom have nursing care needs or are living with dementia. At the time of our inspection, there were 44 people using the service. The home is purpose built, over four floors. The basement floor houses the kitchen and offices, while people live on the upper three floors.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Risk assessments were not always sufficiently detailed and sometimes lacked important information about how to mitigate risks people faced. There were no established schedules in place for ensuring communal areas of the home were cleaned. Quality assurance and monitoring systems were not always effective. People and relatives told us the quality of the food could be improved and we have made a recommendation about this.
There were enough staff to support people and robust staff recruitment practices were followed. Medicines were managed in a way that was safe. Systems were in place to protect people from the risk of abuse. Steps had been taken to ensure the physical environment was safe. Lessons were learnt when things went wrong.
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 provider was aware of their regulatory requirements and worked with other agencies to develop best practice and share knowledge. Staff spoke positively about the management of the service and the working atmosphere. Managers and staff were clear about their roles.
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 Good (published 29 September 2021).
Why we inspected
We received concerns in relation to people’s nursing needs, the management of the service and food provided. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led, and the nutrition section of effective.
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.
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 Good to Requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Abbey Care Complex on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Enforcement and Recommendations
We have identified breaches in relation to the way people’s risks were assessed and infection control practice at the service, in addition to the quality assurance and monitoring processes. We have also made a recommendation about reviewing the food that is served.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.