Sebright House Care Home

Updated 28 May 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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

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 two inspectors, a specialist nursing advisor in dementia care and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Sebright House Care Home is a ‘care home’. 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. Sebright House Care Home is a care home with nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection and sought feedback from the local authority. We sought feedback from Healthwatch and an independent advocacy service. 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 the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We 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 manager, the clinical lead nurse, an agency nurse, five care staff and a member of domestic staff. We spoke with 11 relatives about their experiences of care. We reviewed four people's care plans. We looked at 34 people's medicines records, a selection of monitoring charts, and a variety of records relating to the management and governance of the service including two recruitment files.

Updated 28 May 2022

About the service

Sebright House Care Home is registered to provide nursing care for up to 40 elderly people whose primary care needs stem from dementia. The home has five beds contracted for 'discharge to assess' (D2A). People live in the home for six weeks under the D2A scheme and within that period they are either discharged home with a care package or to a more appropriate care setting. There were 34 people living in the home at the time of our inspection visit.

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

Since our last inspection there had been changes in the management of the home. Staff spoke positively about the impact of the new manager and how the recruitment of new staff meant they had time to carry out their role and responsibilities. Staff told us they took pride in caring for people, and relatives spoke positively about the standards of care provided. However, audits needed to be improved to ensure they were effectively assuring the cleanliness, safety and quality of the environment.

Some people living at Seabright had dementia which required very careful and considered care planning to minimise the likelihood of distress. Staffing levels meant staff were able to be attentive to people’s needs and respond proactively when needed. Staff understood their safeguarding responsibilities and people appeared relaxed around them.

Individual risks to people had been assessed and risk management plans were regularly reviewed to ensure they were up to date. Medicines were stored, managed and administered in line with good practice guidelines.

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.

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 this service was requires improvement (published 18 April 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.

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 Sebright House 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.