Paternoster House

Updated 16 February 2022

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.

We received information of concern about visiting arrangements at this service. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection prevention and control measures the provider has in place. We also asked the provider about any staffing pressures the service was experiencing and whether this was having an impact on the service.

This inspection took place on 21 January 2022 and was unannounced.

Updated 16 February 2022

About the service

Paternoster House is a care home providing personal and nursing care for 74 people at the time of the inspection. The care home can accommodate up to 108 people across four separate units over two floors.

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

The service’s quality assurance processes which were in place did not identify the concerns we found at the inspection. There were some areas of the environment that needed repair. Infection prevention and control policies and procedures were in place in line with the current government guidelines in respect of COVID-19 pandemic, however staff did not always wear the personal protective equipment (PPE) correctly. In addition, some aspects of environment did not allow for effective cleaning. The service was following government guidelines for visitors, and COVID-19 swab testing was being carried out for people and staff.

There had been frequent changes to management which had impacted on staff morale and effective oversight in some areas. The new manager had been in post for a few weeks prior to the inspection. They had made changes to the daily management and had taken a proactive approach to making improvements. Staff were positive about the new manager and the changes they were making.

Some incidents and accidents that should have been raised as safeguarding concerns had not been identified. The new manager was carrying out audits and analysing incidents and accidents and reporting safeguarding concerns. This gave us reassurance that the processes were being followed.

People and their relatives told us they felt safe using the service and knew how to raise any concerns. Staff had received safeguarding training. People and their relatives told us they were happy with the care provided and staff were kind and caring.

Care plans contained risk assessments. Where risks had been identified, people were referred to the relevant health professional for advice.

The service followed a safe recruitment process. There was enough staff on duty to meet people’s needs. Staff received medicine administration training which included observations in practice to ensure competency. Medicine management followed legislation and guidelines.

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 Good (published 9 April 2019).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the management of the service, incidents and accidents and infection control. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of Safe and Well-led.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concerns were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

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.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. At the time of inspection and since the inspection, the provider has responded positively, and some improvements have been made. Please see the Safe and Well-led sections of this report.

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

The overall rating for the service has changed from Good to Requires Improvement. 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 Paternoster House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.