Eccleston Court Care Home

Eccleston Court Care Home is a care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 54 people. The service provides support to people requiring nursing care and support. The service is delivered in two separate buildings each with separate adapted facilities. At the time of our inspection one of the buildings supporting people living with dementia was not in use. There were 23 people using the service at the time of this inspection.

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

There were failings in how the provider led and had oversight of the service. The systems for monitoring the quality and safety of the service by the provider were not effective, as there was lack of monitoring and support by the provider.

People were supported by enough staff who knew them well. We have made a recommendation about how staff on duty are deployed around the service. People’s medicines were generally managed well, staff were working to an action plan to improve the overall management of people’s medicines. Recent fire inspection reports had identified areas of improvement were needed. We have made a recommendation for the provider to complete these improvements.

People and their family members told us they felt safe living at Eccleston Court Care Home. Comments included, “She is safe and is happy beyond expectation” and, “We sleep well at night as she is safe, it has taken a lot of pressure off us.”

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. However, the policies and systems in the service did not always support this practice. Where required, applications had been made appropriately under the Mental Capacity Act. However, we have made a recommendation that best interest decisions made on behalf of people using specific furniture are formally recorded.

People were offered a choice of food and drinks at mealtimes. Staff worked with health care professionals to ensure that people's medical needs were met.

Records relating to people’s care and support needed improvement to ensure that all relevant information was recorded appropriately. People were supported to maintain their hobbies, and activities were provided by the staff team.

People and their family members knew who to speak to if they wanted to make a complaint about the service.

People and their family members were happy with the care and support they received from the staff team. Their comments included, “Staff are amazing”; “Nothing is too much trouble” and, “Never had any problems with the staff, always polite and will do anything to help.”

During this inspection we carried out a separate thematic probe, which asked questions of the provider, people and their relatives, about the quality of oral health care support and access to dentists, for people living in the care home. This was to follow up on the findings and recommendations from our national report on oral healthcare in care homes that was published in 2019 called ‘Smiling Matters.’ We will publish a follow up report to the 2019 'Smiling Matters' report, with up to date findings and recommendations about oral health, in due course.

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 the service under the previous provider Community Integrated Care was requires improvement, published on 11 November 2020.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

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 see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have made a recommendation in relation to responding to fire safety reports; management of some medicines; the deployment of staff; best interest decisions; records and accessible information.

We have identified breaches in relation to the overall management and oversight of the provider at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.