Cooperscroft Care Home

Updated 9 January 2024

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 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

This inspection was carried out by 3 inspectors and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Cooperscroft Care Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced. Inspection activity started on 13 November 2023 and ended on 29 November 2023. We visited the service on 13 and 14 November 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. 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 9 people and 18 relatives. We spoke with the Registered Manager, the Care Service Manager, 4 unit managers, the Hotel Service Manager, 1 team leader, the Finance and Human Resources Manager, the Community Development Manager, the Maintenance Manager, the wellbeing lead, the Learning and Development Coach, the Compliance and Quality Director, a Care Support Manager, the Director of Care and Medicines, 1 senior care staff and 2 care staff and the Chief Operating Officer. We observed care provided and staff engagement with people as well as how a medicines administration round was carried out. We received feedback from 3 external professionals involved with the service. We looked at the care documentation for 7 people and medicines records for 11 people. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service including policies, staff recruitment and training records and systems used to monitor the quality of the service.

Updated 9 January 2024

About the service

Cooperscroft Care Home is a care home with nursing. They provide nursing and personal care to older people including people who live with dementia and people with multiple medical conditions. At the time of our inspection there were 57 people using the service. The service provides care in modern purpose- built premises comprising of 3 floors. There are good sized bedrooms with ensuite facilities and a range of communal lounges and dining areas, including a bistro area and well-maintained gardens and outdoor spaces.

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

People told us they felt safe at Cooperscroft Care Home. Staff have good knowledge of their safeguarding responsibilities and concerns were raised and actioned appropriately including alerting local authority safeguarding teams and CQC as required. People were supported to feel safe through initiatives such as scam awareness and internet safety sessions.

Risks to people’s health and wellbeing were managed well and the service promoted positive risk taking to support people to follow their aspirations and achieve positive outcomes in a safe way. When incidents or accidents happened, these were recorded and managed appropriately, and action was taken to reduce the risk of reoccurrence.

The service had systems and processes in place to safely store, administer and record medicines use. Overall, people were receiving medicines safely and in accordance with the prescribers’ intentions.

There were enough staff on duty to meet people’s needs safely and people told us they did not have to wait a long time for staff to attend to their needs. People were protected from the risk of infection because staff understood and followed good infection prevention and control practice.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

There was an exceptionally person-centred culture at the service, where managers respected and valued people as individuals with hopes, dreams and aspirations. People were supported to be part of the day to day running of the service from having the opportunity to work in a role for a day, to participating in fire drills and wellbeing talks along with staff. People and their relatives were very complimentary about the management, the staff and their experiences of care at Cooperscroft Care Home. Everyone we spoke with felt their views were sought, listened to and acted on to continuously improve the service.

The provider strove for excellence in all they did and as a result had won a number of awards in recognition of their achievements. They had robust systems in place to monitor the quality of the service, incorporating the views of people, relatives and staff at all times. There was a strong focus on staff well-being as well as supporting them to develop and build on their skills.

People and their relatives said the management team were very visible throughout the service and were always approachable and responsive to issues they raised. We observed that managers were available throughout the day and appeared to have very positive relationships with people.

The provider worked particularly well in partnership with external professionals and the wider community to ensure high quality care and positive outcomes for people.

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 rating for this service was good (published 30 August 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. 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 was a focused inspection looking at the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from good to outstanding based on the findings of this inspection.

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