Tendercare Home Ltd

Updated 21 October 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

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 undertaken by one inspector.

Service and service type

Tendercare 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

This inspection was unannounced.

Inspection activity started on 16 September and ended on 30 September 2021 when feedback was provided. We visited the service on 16 September 2021.

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 who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with five people who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We also spoke with four care staff, a domestic, assistant deputy manager, registered manager, and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We also spoke with the provider and two visiting healthcare professionals. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We reviewed a range of documents and records including the care records for five people, two medicine records, three staff recruitment files and training records. We also looked at records that related to the management and quality assurance of the service.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the registered manager to validate evidence found.

Updated 21 October 2021

About the service

Tendercare Care home is a residential care home providing personal care and accommodation for up to 43 people some of whom may live with dementia. The service was supporting 27 people at the time of the inspection.

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

Improvements had been made to the service and systems were in place to ensure people were supported safely and protected from the risk of harm. People were supported by skilled and competent staff and received their medicines when they needed them. Systems were in place to reduce the risk of infection, and to review any incident and accidents to see if there were any lessons to learn from these.

There has been a change of management since our last inspection and action has been taken to drive improvements to the service provided to people. The registered manager was described as approachable, supportive, open and transparent in the way they managed the service.

People, relatives and staff have been consulted about the service and their feedback was gathered. Improvements have been made to the systems in place to monitor the delivery of the service and to address any shortfalls. Although improvements have been made these now needed to be sustained to ensure standards of care were maintained.

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 (Report published 16 February 2021) and there were breaches of regulations identified. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

This service has been in special measures since February 2021. During this inspection the provider demonstrated that improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in special measures.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

We carried out an unannounced inspection of this service in November 2020. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve the safe care and treatment and governance of the service.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe and well led which contain those requirements.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection undertaken in March 2020 for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from inadequate to good. This is based on the findings 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.

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.