Cotman House

Updated 5 April 2022

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 included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements. 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 undertaken by one inspector

Service and service type

Cotman House 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. Cotman House is a care home without nursing care. 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.

What we did before the 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 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. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with seven people who used the service and one person’s relative. We spoke with nine staff members including the regional manager, registered manager, deputy manager and care, maintenance, catering and domestic staff. We reviewed the care records relating to safety for five people using the service and medicines administration records, we reviewed records of audits and people using the service and relative engagement. We observed part of the medicine administration at lunch time, and interactions between staff and people.

After the inspection

We sought feedback from relatives of people using the service. We received electronic feedback from four relatives, and we spoke with a commissioner on the telephone.

Updated 5 April 2022

About the service

Cotman House is a residential care home providing accommodation for person’s needing personal care support to up to 62 people. The service provides support to adults, some living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 51 people using the service.

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

Systems were in place designed to keep people safe from abuse and harm. Lessons were learned when incidents had happened to reduce future occurrence. There were systems to monitor the safety of the environment to reduce risks to people and staff.

Infection control processes and procedure reduced the risks of cross contamination. People were supported to have visitors from their family and friends, which was kept under review by the registered manager along with keeping updated on government guidance and to keep people safe.

There were staff vacancies, however, systems in place reduced the risks of people not having their needs met, including the use of agency staff and ongoing recruitment.

People received their medicines when they needed them and regular monitoring by the management team supported them to identify any shortfalls and address them.

The service had systems in place to monitor the service provided, this included audits and feedback from people using the service and relatives. Where improvements were identified as needed, actions were taken. There were systems to use learning to continuously drive improvement.

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 19 January 2021).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

The inspection was prompted in part by notification of a specific incident. Following which a person using the service died. This incident is subject to investigation. As a result, this inspection did not examine the circumstances of the incident. We received concerns in relation to staffing, visiting and the care provided. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review 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.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report. We found the provider had taken action to reduce risks to people.

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 included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

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