The Croft Residential Care Home

Updated 26 June 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 12 and 16 April 2018 and was unannounced. The inspection was conducted by an adult social care inspector.

We reviewed other information we held about the service, including any statutory notifications we had received from the provider. Notifications are changes, events or incidents that the provider is legally obliged to send us within the required timescale. We also contacted the local authority commissioners for the service and the local authority safeguarding team, the clinical commissioning group (CCG) and the local Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We used a number of different methods to help us understand the experiences of people who lived at The Croft Residential Care Home. As part of the inspection we conducted a Short Observation Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a specific way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We spoke with four people who lived at the home, five relatives, the registered manager, two deputy managers, two senior care staff, four care staff members, the chef and a domestic support.

We undertook general observations of how staff interacted with people as they went about their work. We looked around the home and visited people’s bedrooms with their permission.

We examined documents relating to recruitment, supervision and training records and various records about how the service was managed. We looked at care records for five people who used the service.

Updated 26 June 2018

This inspection took place on 12 and 16 April 2018 and was unannounced. This meant the provider did not know we would be visiting.

The Croft Residential Care Home is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. The Croft Residential Care home provides residential care and support for up to 33 people, some of whom are living with dementia. At the time of our inspection 31 people were living at the home.

A registered manager was in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

At the last inspection in January 2016, the service was rated good. At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

Medicines were managed safely. Staff had a good understanding of safeguarding and how to report concerns. The home continued to have a robust recruitment process. Sufficient appropriately trained staff were available to support people’s needs. Personal emergency evacuation plans were not up to date.

Accidents and incidents were recorded and analysed. Risks to people were identified and plans were in place to help manage and minimise risks.

People told us they enjoyed their meals. People’s preferences were catered for and people were supported to manage their weight. People were supported to engage in activities and interests of their choice. The home was proactive in making activities suitable for all.

Relatives and people told us staff were kind and caring. People were treated with dignity and respect. Staff had a sound knowledge of the people they supported, their likes and dislikes.

The home sought feedback from people, relatives and staff in order to develop and improve the home. Relatives were made welcome and were involved in their family member’s care.

People and relatives we spoke with knew how to make a complaint. They told us they would speak to the registered manager if they had any issues.

People, relatives, staff and external healthcare professionals spoke positively about the registered manager. Staff told us they felt supported by the registered manager and enjoyed working at the service.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The registered manager ensured statutory notifications had been completed and sent to the CQC in accordance with legal requirements.