Archived: The Chapel House Nursing Home

Updated 20 December 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.’

This inspection took place on 4 and 5 October 2017 and was unannounced. The inspection was conducted by one inspector 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.

As part of the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service, such as statutory notifications we had received from the provider. Statutory notifications are about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We reviewed the Provider Information Record (PIR). The PIR is a form where we ask the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and what improvements they plan to make. We also asked the local authority and Healthwatch if they had information to share about the service provided. We used this information to plan the inspection.

During the inspection we spoke with three people who used the service and seven relatives. We spoke with eight staff which included the provider, the registered and deputy managers, a nurse three care staff and the activities worker. We also spoke with three healthcare professionals. We viewed three records which related to assessment of needs and risk. We also viewed other records which related to management of the service such as medicine records, accidents reports and two recruitment records.

We observed care and used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a specific way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who were unable to talk with us.

Updated 20 December 2017

The Chapel House Nursing Home is registered to provide accommodation with personal care for up to a maximum of 35 older people. There were 29 people living at the home at the time of our inspection, some of whom were living with dementia.

There was a registered manager in post who was present during the inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

At our last inspection on 26 and 27 August 2015 the service was rated as Good. At this inspection we found that the provider had further developed the service and was now Outstanding.

The service was extremely well-led. The provider and the registered manager were very passionate about their work and were committed to providing an excellent service for people and their relatives.

The provider used innovative ideas and demonstrated how they achieved outstanding practice to enhance people’s quality of life. They were proactive in their approach and always looked at ways they could improve the care and support they provided. They were keen to share their knowledge and experience with partner agencies to achieve better dementia care in the wider community and care sector. The introduction of the Namaste Programme had clearly had a positive impact on people’s lives.

The registered manager demonstrated a strong and supportive leadership style and had effective systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service. They actively sought and welcomed feedback from people, their relatives and staff alike to drive improvements in the service. Staff were impressed with the quality and variety of training available to them and felt very well supported. There was a real sense of teamwork that made the home an enjoyable place to work. Staff were proud to work at the home and felt valued.

There was an open and inclusive culture at the service. People, their relatives and healthcare professionals were consistently positive about how the home was run. They found the registered manager to be approachable and easy to talk with. Everyone without exception was very impressed with the warm and welcoming atmosphere created by the staff and management.

The provider proactively sought ways of engaging with the local community. They had recently opened a café within the grounds of the home much to the delight of people and their relatives. The provider worked in partnership with other organisations to ensure current practice and to share their experience and knowledge with the wider community.

People received individualised care that was tailored to their needs and preferences. Staff knew people very well and were able to recognise and respond to changes in their needs in a prompt and effective manner. Staff knew about people’s past lives, what was important to them and what they liked doing. They arranged activities that were meaningful and based on people’s past history, interests or hobbies. People’s care plans were detailed and promoted person centred care.

People were cared for by staff who were kind, compassionate and highly motivated. Staff had formed positive working relationships with people and their relatives and contributed to the continuous improvements in their care and support. People and their relatives were actively involved in decisions about their care and felt listened to. Staff consistently respected people’s privacy and dignity. People receiving end of life care, their relatives and people who were important to them were treated with exceptional care and compassion both prior to and following the person’s death,

People continued to receive care and support that protected them from ill treatment and abuse. People were supported safely by staff who were aware of the risks associated with their needs and knew how to minimise these. The provider followed safe recruitment procedures to ensure that staff they employed were suitable to work with people who lived at the home.

People received support to take their medicine as prescribed. Only staff who had received training in the safe management of medicines were able to administer them. The provider looked at ways of supporting people to reduce the use of medicine to manage their behaviours. People were supported to see other health care professional when needed to maintain good health.

There were enough staff available to meet people’s needs in a safe and person centred manner. The registered manager kept staff levels under review to ensure consistent and effective care.

Staff sought people’s consent before supporting them. Staff provided information to people in a way they could understand to enable them to make their own decisions. Where people were unable to make decisions these were made in their best interest by people who knew them well to protect their rights.

People were offered a choice of what they wanted to eat and drink. Where required people received support to eat their meals independently in a calm and dignified manner.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

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