Meadbank Care Home

Updated 3 February 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 included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements. 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 carried out by two inspectors on both days.

Service and service type

Meadbank Care Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. 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

Both days of this two-day inspection were 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 and professionals who work with the service. 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 spoke with two people who used the service. We spoke with 11 staff members including, care workers, two clinical managers and the registered manager. We looked at a range of records including, six people’s care plans, medicines systems, risk assessments, audits and other records relating to the management of the service.

After the inspection

We spoke with four relatives and contacted two healthcare professionals to gather their experiences of the service. We also requested further information from the registered manager including policies and audits.

Updated 3 February 2022

About the service

Meadbank Care Home is a care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 176 people. The service provides support to older people over five separate units, with adapted facilities. At the time of our inspection there were 132 people using the service.

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

People’s medicines were not always managed as intended by the prescribing G.P. The provider took swift action to address our concerns. Risks were managed to ensure people were protected against avoidable harm. Safeguarding training ensured staff could identify, report and escalate suspected abuse. Sufficient staff were deployed to keep people safe. Where possible lessons were learned to mitigate further incidents. The provider had effective infection control procedures in place, including those in relation to COVID-19.

People’s relatives spoke highly of the management of the service. People’s voices were heard through compliance systems and where appropriate action was taken in response to people’s views. Regular auditing was carried out to ensure issues were identified swiftly and appropriate action taken. The registered manager worked in partnership with stakeholders to drive improvement. The registered manager was aware of their responsibilities under the duty of candour and submitted notifications to the Care Quality Commission in a timely manner.

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 Good (published 7 July 2021.

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to COVID-19 practices and staffing levels. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

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. This included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the Safe and Well-led sections of this full report.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

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