Archived: Castle Hall Residential Care Home

Updated 5 September 2020

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.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by two inspectors. One inspector visited the service and the second inspector contacted staff, people using the service and relatives over the telephone.

Service and service type

Castle Hall Residential Care Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as 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 did not have 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. The inspection commenced on 23 July 2020 and ended on 21 August 2020.

What we did before the inspection

Prior to the inspection we reviewed all the information we held about the service. We sought feedback from partner agencies and professionals about the service. We used the information the provider sent us on 13 February 2020 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 undertook this inspection on site and off site and the provider was asked to send us information to show improvements had been made. This included records relating to quality assurance processes and other records to demonstrate leadership at the service had improved. We spoke with two people who used the service and one relative about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including the manager, the operational manager, team leader, and support staff. We sought clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We spoke with one professional who had visited the service.

Updated 5 September 2020

About the service

Castle Hall Residential Care Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to people with a learning disability who are aged 18 and over. The service can support up to 16 people in one building. At the time of this inspection the service was supporting 10 people.

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

Improvements had been made following the previous inspection in August 2019. Staff, people and their relatives told us people were safe and well supported at the service.

People were protected from abuse and were treated with respect and dignity. Staff told us staffing levels were good and were at a level where they could meet people’s needs.

Risks to people's health and safety were managed well and had significantly improved since the last inspection. Staff had been trained and understood the importance of supporting people to eat healthy options and to drink enough to ensure they remained healthy. Moving and handling care plans had improved, although some further improvements on the completion of the recording of moving and handling risk assessments were required. We have made a recommendation about the recording of moving and handling risk assessments.

There was a new manager in place and a new operational manager to improve the leadership at the service. The new manager was described as approachable and was very proactive to any suggestions made at this inspection. Staff described the atmosphere and culture at the home as positive and a happy place for people to live. Improvements had been made to governance systems.

Audits and monitoring procedures were used effectively to monitor the service and to make improvements. Accidents or incidents were recorded and monitored, and learning was identified to reduce the risk of them happening again. A deeper analysis of some of the incidents was identified but on the whole these were improved from the last inspection.

The manager and staff promoted and encouraged person centred care to ensure people were

treated as individuals and staff knew how people preferred to receive their care and support. Activities had been tailored to meet people's needs in the current circumstances of the Covid- 19 pandemic and staff from the provider’s day services had been working at the service to ensure people who were unable to take part in their usual activities, were provided with alternative meaningful occupation.

People were supported by staff who had been trained to administer medicines. There had been a change of pharmacy provider since our last inspection and staff reported the new system was easy to follow.

The outcomes for people using the service in some areas reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People had a choice in what they ate and some choice in how they spent their day, but normal routines and some of these choices had been reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The manager fully intended support would be focused on people having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

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 (published 17 October 2019). 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 October 2019. 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

We carried out a comprehensive inspection of this service between 22 and 29 August 2019. Breaches of legal requirements were found. 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 refer to those requirements.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection 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 requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection. This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Castle Hall Residential Care Home 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.