St Mary's House

Updated 2 April 2022

Inspection team

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.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements. 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

This inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector.

Service and service type

St Mary’s House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and we looked at both during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. Registered managers and providers have legal responsibilities for how they run the service and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours' notice of the inspection. This was to check whether the service had active infections and agree any precautions we would take to reduce the risks to people using the service.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we held about the service including any feedback from the local authority and notifications of significant events the provider had sent to us. 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 visited St Mary’s House on 24 February and 03 March 2022. We spoke with seven people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We also spoke with eight members of staff including the registered manager, acting deputy manager, senior carers and care staff.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and training. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were additionally reviewed.

After the inspection

We received written feedback via email from five relatives or representatives of people using the service.

Updated 2 April 2022

About the service

St Mary’s House is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to 24 people. The service provides care and support to older people, some of whom are living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 19 people using the service.

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

People using the service and their family members said they were happy with the support provided and would recommend the service to others. They told us they or their relatives were supported by staff who understood how to keep them safe and were kind, caring and respectful towards them.

People were supported by staff who were recruited safely, had appropriate training and were well supported by the registered manager. Staff understood how to safeguard people using the service and were confident any concerns they raised would be listened to.

Improved procedures were in place and followed for the safe management and administration of medicines.

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.

People’s care was planned around their wishes, preferences and needs. People and their relatives understood how to complain but had not needed to because they were happy with the care provided. They were confident that, if they contacted the home, the management team would respond to them promptly.

Systems were in place to monitor the quality of care people received as well as their satisfaction with it. People, relatives and staff were encouraged to share their feedback.

For more information, please read the detailed findings section of this report. If you are reading this as a separate summary, the full report can be found on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 24 April 2019). At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service in March 2019. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve their management and administration of medicines.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

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. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

We also 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. This included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for St Mary's House 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.