The Old Vicarage Nursing and Residential Care Centre

Updated 18 March 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 3 inspectors and an expert by experience on the first day. The lead inspector returned alone on the second day.

Service and service type

The Old Vicarage is a ‘care home’ with nursing care. 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. . 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.

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 7 March 2023 and ended on 8 March 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, 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 all this information to plan our inspection.

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.

During the inspection

We spoke with 5 people who used the service. We spoke with 6 relatives about their experience. We spoke with 8 members of staff including the registered manager, 2 deputy managers, an area manager and care workers and a member of the domestic staff. We also spoke with 2 external health and social care professionals and received their feedback of the quality of 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 in detail four care records. We looked at staff rotas, risk assessments, multiple medicine records and 5 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.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the registered and area manager to validate evidence found.

Updated 18 March 2023

About the service

The Old Vicarage Nursing and Residential Care Centre (The Old Vicarage) is a residential care home with nursing registered to accommodate up 60 people in need of nursing and personal care. Accommodation is provided over two floors with single rooms and one double room. Most rooms have en-suite facilities. On the days of the inspection there were 55 people living at the home.

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

People received safe care from kind and caring staff. People were protected from the risk of harm and staff supported them to maintain their safety and wellbeing. People received their medicines as prescribed from staff who had been trained in medicines and had their competencies checked by managers.

Relatives told us they felt confident their relations were safe living in the home and praised the friendly and caring attitudes of staff and managers. People's rights were protected and their equality and diversity needs were respected. People's bedrooms were personalised to reflect their tastes and preferences.

People were confident in the management team at the home and praised how approachable they were. Relatives were similarly pleased with the way the home was managed. Some relatives and staff members said that, on occasions, the home was short-staffed. We did not see evidence of this at inspection and staffing rotas supported the home was properly staffed.

Quality assurance systems, audits and checks were robust and embedded within the service. The home, the environment and the equipment in use was clean and tidy. We did not find any shortfalls around care planning and record keeping. This assisted in ensuring people received proper and safe care.

Staff felt valued and enjoyed working at the home. They also said the new registered manager had provided a good degree of stability to the home. People's views and opinions of the service were sought and acted on.

The service made appropriate notifications to us and other authorities of safety incidents to ensure these incidents received appropriate oversight. Infection prevention control measures were robust and safe visiting processes were in place to ensure people could see their visitors safely.

People received high-quality person-centred care because the provider and managers had maintained effective oversight of the quality of care practice and records. Staff were committed to providing high-quality care and felt they were supported in their role by managers. 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 requires improvement (published 25 April 2022).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. We identified the service may have improved since the last inspection. We carried out a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

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 requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Old Vicarage Nursing and Residential Care Centre 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.