Fitzwilliam House Care Home

Updated 5 March 2021

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.

As part of CQC’s response to care homes with outbreaks of coronavirus, we are conducting reviews to ensure that the Infection Prevention and Control practice was safe and the service was compliant with IPC measures. This was a targeted inspection looking at the IPC practices the provider has in place.

This inspection took place on 10 February and was unannounced.

Updated 5 March 2021

About the service:

Fitzwilliam House Care Home is a care home that provides personal care to 40 older people, some of whom are living with dementia. Each of the two floors is a self-contained unit, with bedrooms, lounge and dining areas, a kitchenette and bathrooms. There were 24 people living there when we visited.

People’s experience of using this service:

People who lived at Fitzwilliam House Care Home received outstanding care from a staff team who were passionate about delivering a high-quality, person-centred service. People were truly valued and staff knew each person well. People’s views were respected and they were involved in everything that happened in the home. People were happy to be living there and relatives trusted the staff team to look after their family members.

Staff delivered care and support that was exceptionally personalised and responsive to people’s likes, dislikes and preferences. Staff were kind, caring and motivated and people, their relatives and external professionals described them in glowing terms. Staff respected people’s privacy, dignity and independence and encouraged people to lead their life in the way they wanted to.

Everyone praised the registered manager who led by example and provided extremely good management and leadership. The staff team worked towards continually improving their practice based on the provider’s values and good practice guidelines. Fitzwilliam House Care Home was part of the local community and admired by external professionals for the homely, caring atmosphere that staff created and their professional approach to all aspects of care.

People were safe at Fitzwilliam House Care Home, protected by practices and procedures that put their safety and well-being at the heart of the care provided. There were enough staff to meet people’s care and support needs. Staff had been recruited well and understood their responsibility to keep people safe. Staff were creative in engaging people in activities of their choice, based on their interests and hobbies.

The provider was committed to ensuring staff developed their competence and knowledge and that they felt valued and supported. External healthcare professionals supported people to maintain their health and people were offered a wide choice of nutritious and appetizing food. Staff asked people’s consent to deliver their care and supported them to make decisions so that they were cared for in the least restrictive way possible.

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

Rating at last inspection:

At the last inspection we rated this service Good (report published on 12 August 2016).

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up:

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