Archived: Grove House

Updated 15 June 2023

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 was conducted by 2 inspectors. An Expert by Experience also made calls to people's families as part of the inspection. 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

Grove House 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. Grove House is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. A new manager had been in post for 2 months and had submitted an application to register. We are currently assessing this application.

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. We sought feedback from the local authority professionals who work with the service. We used all this information to plan our inspection. We did not request a provider information return (PIR) before this inspection. 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.

During the inspection

We spoke with 6 people who used the service. We spoke with 8 relatives about their experience of the care provided.

We spoke with 12 staff including, kitchen staff, a member of staff employed for maintenance, care assistants, senior care assistants, the care manager, service managers, the compliance manager, the nominated individual and a director.

We reviewed 5 people's care records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment practices. We reviewed various records relating to the management of the service including training records, quality assurance reports and accidents and incidents.

Updated 15 June 2023

About the service

Grove House is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to up to 31 people in an adapted building. The service provides support to older adults, some of whom are living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 18 people using the service.

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

The service was not always safe. Environmental and health-related risks to people were not always well managed. People did not always receive their medicines safely. Accident and incident forms were not always completed, so lessons could not always be learnt. The provider did not always follow recruitment policies to ensure staff were recruited safely. However, people were protected from the risk of abuse and infection prevention and control measures were appropriate.

Staff did not always have the support and training needed to meet people’s needs. People had not been referred to healthcare professionals when their mobility needs had changed. Risks to people’s nutrition and hydration were not always well managed. People did not always receive consistent support with their hygiene needs and preferences. However, the home was well presented and people could personalise their bedrooms.

Although improvements had been made since the last inspection, systems and processes had not always been operated effectively to ensure people received a safe service where quality was able to improve consistently. The provider did not always understand or comply with regulatory requirements. However, people’s care plans were written in a person-centred way, and there were systems to receive feedback from people and their relatives.

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.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was inadequate (published 25 August 2022). There were breaches in regulation. This service has been in special measures since 25 August 2022. During this inspection, although we have found some improvements have been made, the provider remains in breach of regulations. The provider will remain in special measures as the service remains rated inadequate overall.

Why we inspected

At our last inspection, we carried out an unannounced focused inspection on 20 June 2022. Breaches of legal requirements were found. As a result, we imposed conditions on the provider’s registration and served a Warning Notice with a compliance deadline for improvement.

We undertook this focused inspection to check whether the provider had complied with the imposed conditions due to urgent risks found in relation to regulation 13, and the Warning Notice we previously served in relation to regulations 11, 12, 17 and 18, of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective 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 remained inadequate. 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 Grove House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to people’s health and safety, person centred care, staffing and governance.

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

Follow up

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.

The overall rating for this service is ‘Requires improvement’. However, the service remains in ‘special measures’. We do this when services have been rated as ‘Inadequate’ in any Key Question over two consecutive inspections. The ‘Inadequate’ rating does not need to be in the same question at each of these inspections for us to place services in special measures. This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider’s registration, we will re-inspect within 6 months to check for significant improvements.

If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe and there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions of the registration.

For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months. If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect it and it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions it will no longer be in special measures.