Background to this inspection
Updated
1 April 2020
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 team consisted of one inspector.
Service and service type
Marrams 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 was operated by an independent sole provider who oversaw the daily running of the service. Therefore, there was no requirement to have a registered manager in post.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider would be in the office to support the inspection.
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. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with all three people who lived in the service and the relative of one person. We also spoke with the provider and two members of care staff. We looked at one person’s care record in detail and parts of two other people’s care records. We reviewed the medicine record for one person. We reviewed one staff recruitment file, staff training records and a range of quality monitoring records which related to the day to day running of the service.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the registered manager to validate evidence found. We also made telephone calls to staff.
Updated
1 April 2020
About the service
Marrams is a residential care home providing personal care to 3 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 3 people.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
We made a recommendation because systems to monitor and assess the safety and quality of the service were not comprehensive and were not effective at identifying shortfalls within the service. Risk assessments for the environment had not been completed. The provider assured us this would be addressed. Checks on the fire and water systems were undertaken to ensure they were safe. Individual risks to people’s health had been assessed.
Staff understood their responsibilities in relation to safeguarding and had received training in this. People were given their medicines as prescribed. Pre-employment checks had not always been carried out for new staff. The provider assured us this would be addressed. There were consistently enough staff to support people.
There was a person-centred culture within the home and people enjoyed living there. Staff enjoyed their work and felt supported by the provider. People, their relatives and staff were involved in providing feedback about the service.
Staff had not received training in health and safety but had completed other training relevant to their role. Assessments of people’s needs were completed prior to them moving into the home. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. People were supported to maintain a healthy nutritional intake and timely referrals to healthcare professionals were made when people became unwell.
People were cared for in a way which upheld their dignity and respected their privacy. Staff supported people to maintain their independence and knew people well as individuals. People were involved in the planning of their care and treatment.
People’s care was planned in a person-centred way and records of people’s care were regularly reviewed and updated. There were no restrictions in relation to people having visitors and people were supported to access their local community and maintain their interests. No complaints had been made about the service in the past year, but people felt able to raise a concern if needed.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The rating at the last inspection was good (published 14 June 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Marrams 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.