Gateford Hill Care Home

Updated 12 August 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.

Inspection team

This Inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Gateford Hill 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. The provider had made us aware prior to our inspection the registered manager was absent from the service and a new manager had been appointed who was in the process of registering with us.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was 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. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During the inspection-

We spoke with five people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with eight members of staff including the manager, deputy manager, nurse practitioner, care practitioner, maintenance support, housekeeper and catering staff. We reviewed a range of records. This included three people's care records and multiple medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits and incident reports were reviewed.

After our inspection site visit, we contacted three relatives to ask about their experience of the service. We reviewed further records this included, staff training information, staff rotas and policies.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 12 August 2021

About the service

Gateford Hill Care Home is a care home providing personal and nursing care for 26 people, at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 66 people in one large adapted building.

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

Risk were assessed and the manager and staff worked to improve the quality of care people received. Medicines were managed safely, and people received their prescribed medicines on time. Infection control measures in place protected people from possible transmission of COVID-19 and other healthcare related infections.

Staff were recruited safely and when issues were found with staff performance the manager and provider took appropriate action. People told us they felt supported safely by kind staff. There were enough staff effectively deployed to meet people's needs. Staff received training in safeguarding and knew what action to take to protect people from abuse.

Lessons had been learnt following several incidents and the provider communicated to people and their loved ones when things went wrong. Quality assurance systems were in place to highlight any shortfalls in the quality of care and issues were addressed when found.

People, relatives and staff told us they felt well supported by the management team. Recent changes to the management team had been communicated well. People and staff felt confident action was taken when they reported concerns. Staff worked well with other health and social care professionals and specialist advice had been sought and followed when needed.

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 comprehensive rating for this service was good (published 13 March 2019).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the management of pressure care and incidents, we undertook a focused inspection to review these risks. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions of safe and well-led only. We have found evidence that the provider had made improvements following a number of serious incidents to protect people from harm. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern 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. The overall rating for the service has remained the same. 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 Gateford Hill 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.