Abbey Court

Updated 3 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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 1 inspector, 1 specialist nurse advisor 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

Abbey Court is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Abbey Court is a care home with nursing care. 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 registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

Inspection activity started on 21 August 2023 and ended on 30 August 2023. We visited the service on 22 August 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 and professionals who worked with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 4 people who used the service and 5 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 11 members of staff including the operations manager, compliance manager, deputy manager, 1 nursing assistant, 3 seniors care assistants 3 care assistants and 1 laundry assistant. We gained feedback from external professionals.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 6 people's care and medication records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment and a variety of records relating to the management of the service. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, were reviewed.

Updated 3 October 2023

About the service

Abbey court is a residential care home with nursing providing personal care for up to 44 people. The service provides support to older people living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 43 people using the service.

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

Risks to people were regularly assessed and appropriate measures were in place to minimise risk. People's medicines were managed safely, and staff followed correct infection control procedures. Health and safety checks were regularly conducted. Accidents and incidents were recorded, and actions were taken to mitigate the risk of reoccurrence.

Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and knew how to do this. The service had enough safely recruited staff who were appropriately skilled and knew people's needs to help keep them safe.

People and their relatives spoke positively about the care and support they received. One relative said, “We trust the staff, they’re canny, they’re on the ball.”

The registered manager was clear about their role and responsibilities. The registered manager was well respected by staff. Staff felt well informed and supported to undertake their roles. There were effective systems in place to monitor the quality and standard of the service. The service worked in partnership with others including health professionals and the local community.

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

The last rating for this service was good (published January 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. As a result, we undertook 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 is good. This is 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.

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

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.