Stonecross Care Centre

Updated 31 October 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 Care Act 2014.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was conducted by 2 inspectors.

Service and service type

Stonecross Care Centre is a ‘care home’. 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 the Care Quality Commission 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 manager in post who was in the process of applying for registration.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

Inspection activity started on 18 July 2023 and ended 20 July 2023.

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 fire service, commissioners and professionals who work with the service. We also looked at information we had received and held on our system about the service, this included notifications sent to us by the provider and information passed to us by members of the public.

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 this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 4 people who used the service. We spoke with 5 relatives about their experience. We spoke with members of staff including the manager and deputy manager, 2 provider representatives, a cook and 4 care workers. We also obtained feedback from 2 health care professionals who regularly visit the service.

We looked at a variety of records to gather information and assess the level of care and support provided to people. We reviewed 4 care records. We looked at staff rotas, risk assessments, multiple medicine records and 4 recruitment files. We also considered a variety of records relating to the management and governance of the service, including policies and procedures.

We looked around the home in both communal and private areas to establish if it met the needs of people who lived there and if it was safe.

Updated 31 October 2023

About the service

Stonecross Care Centre is a residential care home registered to accommodate up to 32 people in need of personal care. Accommodation is provided over 3 floors with some rooms having en-suite facilities. On the days of the inspection there were 20 people living at the home.

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

Aspects of staff recruitment were not completely effective at ensuring staff members were always suitable to work with vulnerable people. Some essential safety checks had not been made. This was a breach of regulation at the last inspection and we found this was a continuing breach at this inspection. There was no documented provider oversight of these processes.

Care, support and environmental risks to people were not always appropriately identified, assessed or managed. At the last inspection, there were significant fire safety issues. The local fire service intervened. Although we noted some improvements in that position and other environmental concerns, issues were still outstanding and the provider had no active plan to resolve matters.

People received their medicines as prescribed by health care professionals. Some medicinal cream use required attention but these were addressed at inspection.

Infection, Prevention and Control (IPC) processes were appropriate and we were assured about the service's ability to mitigate the transmission of infections. The service had recently been visited by a local authority specialist and we noted most recommendations had been acted upon.

Staff were competent with safeguarding processes and knew how to protect people from abuse. Relatives said their loved ones felt safe in the home and were trusting of staff and management. We observed good practices and interactions between staff and people during the inspection. The service's safeguarding processes were robust.

Staff supported people to have access to healthcare professionals and specialist support and the service worked with external specialists. Professional's views on the service were mixed but those we spoke with at inspection said that the service was improving.

People were confident in the management team at the home and praised how approachable they were.

The service made appropriate notifications to CQC and other authorities of safety incidents to ensure these incidents received appropriate oversight.

The manager and registered provider was responsive to concerns noted during the inspection and started to take action to make improvements and promote safety within the home.

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 30 June 2022) and there were breaches of regulations. The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement for the last 2 consecutive inspections.

At this inspection, we found there were only limited improvements and the provider continued to be in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. As a result, we carried out a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

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 remains 'requires improvement' based on the findings of 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 COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the 'safe' and well-led' sections of this full report.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to risks to people, unsafe recruitment processes and the governance of the service at this inspection. In this connection, the provider was issued with 2 Warning Notices. This means we may take further action if the provider does not comply with the Notice and the breaches are continuing.

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

Follow up

We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will work with the local authority and other partner agencies to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect and will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.