Mountside Residential Care Home

Updated 30 November 2022

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 team consisted of one inspector.

Service and service type

Mountside Residential Care Home is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we held about the service and the service provider. We looked at notifications and any safeguarding alerts we had received for this service. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. Notifications are information about important events the service is required to send us by law.

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We looked around the service and met with the people who lived there. We spoke with ten people to understand their views and experiences of the service and we observed how staff supported people. We also used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We spoke with the registered manager, deputy manager and seven further staff members.

We reviewed the care records of five people and a range of other documents. For example, medicine records, staff training records and records relating to the management of the service. We also looked at staff rotas, and records relating to health and safety.

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We spoke with three relatives, three social workers and two health care professionals on the 14 November 2022 to complete the inspection.

Updated 30 November 2022

Mountside Residential Care Home is registered to provide support to a maximum of 52 people and 40 people were living at the service at the time of our inspection. The service is registered for older and younger people, who may be living with a physical disability, and dementia.

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

The providers’ governance systems had improved and were being used consistently to improve the service. There had been improvements made, but there were still areas that needed to be further improved to ensure people's safety in a consistent way. Some audits had identified the same issues as previous months but had not been addressed and so remained an issue. For example, procedures for hand-written medicines and timely responses to complaints received.

People received safe care and support by staff trained to recognise signs of abuse or risk and understood what to do to safely support people. People had care plans and risk assessments which meant peoples’ safety and well-being was promoted and protected. The home was clean, well-maintained and comfortable. There were enough staff to meet people's needs. Safe recruitment practices had been followed before staff started working at the service. Accidents and incidents were recorded, and lessons learnt to prevent re-occurrences. We observed medicines being given safely to people by appropriately trained staff, who had been assessed as competent.

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.

Improvements had been made to the provision of person-centred care. People confirmed they were involved in their care planning. One person said, “They sit and talk to me about what I need, and I do feel I have a say in it, which is important to me.” End of life care planning and documentation guided staff in providing care at this important stage of people’s lives. Resident and family meetings were held, and surveys were analysed and acted on.

The registered manager and staff team were committed to continuously improve. There were plans to develop the service and improve their care delivery to a good standard and sustain the good standard of care. Feedback from staff about the leadership was positive, “We are really getting to be a strong team, we all work together and it is a really good place to work.”

Rating at last inspection:

The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (published 15 November 2021)

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 announced inspection of this service on 11, 13 and 19 October 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve, Safe care and treatment, safeguarding people from harm, personalised care and good governance.

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, Responsive and Well-led which contained requirements.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Mountside Residential Care Home 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.