Palm Court Nursing Home

Updated 15 July 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

Palm Court Nursing 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 did not currently have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. However, the previous registered manager had recently left employment at Palm Court and a new manager was in place who would apply to us to be registered in due course. 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

We gave short notice of this inspection due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with five people who used the service and received feedback from two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with seven members of staff including the provider, new manager, deputy manager, clinical lead nurse, head of care, senior care workers and care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data, policies and quality assurance records. We also received feedback from a further six staff.

Updated 15 July 2021

Palm Court Nursing Home is a care home providing nursing and personal care for up to 39 older people. At the time of the inspection there were 33 people living at the home with some rooms currently being used for visiting and COVID-19 testing. The building was over three floors right on Dawlish sea front with stunning sea views from the lounge and front rooms.

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

Palm Court had a person-centred culture which ensured that staff in all roles were motivated and offered care and support that was compassionate and kind.

There was a good ethos within the service of treating people with dignity and respect. People were at the forefront of the service delivery and the provider was committed to providing a good quality service. We received generally positive feedback from people, staff and relatives. Any issues were already known by the service and were being addressed. For example, ensuring that individuals were receiving adequate engagement and leisure activities through improved recording and auditing. The feedback reflected staff were kind, caring and committed. A relative said, “The staff are as near to perfect as you can get. They bring [person’s name] doughnuts. I feel I can go home and know [person’s name is ok.” People complimented the continuity of care provided by regular staff, especially during the pandemic, which contributed to the building of meaningful relationships.

Care and support plans were reviewed and changed as people's needs changed. The service worked closely with healthcare professionals. People were supported to maintain good health and to meet their nutritional needs.

Staff told us they were supported by the management team. The manager and management team provided supportive leadership and had developed a dedicated staff team who were committed to the vision and values of the service.

The provider had effective quality assurance systems in place which were used to drive improvement.

People living at Palm Court who were able to communicate effectively told us they received safe care from skilled and knowledgeable staff. Staff knew how to identify and report any concerns.

The provider had safe recruitment and selection processes in place. Risks to people's safety and well-being were managed through a risk management process.

There were sufficient staff deployed to meet people's needs.

Medicines were managed safely, and people received their medicines as prescribed.

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.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 9 January 2020). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of Regulation 15 (Premises and equipment) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of Safe, Effective and Well Led only. 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 changed from Requires Improvement to Good. 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 Palm Court 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.