The Swallows

Updated 18 February 2021

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection control and prevention measures the provider has in place. This inspection took place on 25 January 2020 and was announced. The service was selected to take part in this thematic review which is seeking to identify examples of good practice in infection prevention and control.

Updated 18 February 2021

About the service

The Swallows is a residential care home providing personal care to 16 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 19 people.

People's experience of using this service

People continued to remain safe at the service. Staff identified risks for people and developed management plans to mitigate these. People had activities that took place in the home. However, there was a lack of dementia specialist activities in place for people. We have made a recommendation about the availability of specialist activities for people living with dementia.

Staff understood the provider’s safeguarding process. Staff had the knowledge to identify potential abuse and manage safeguarding allegations to protect people.

People were supported by enough staff during the day and night to meet their individual needs. The registered manager completed robust recruitment checks to ensure experienced staff were employed.

Medicines were managed so people had their medicines as prescribed and in a safe way.

People had their nutritional needs met by the service. People said they enjoyed the meals that were provided to them throughout the day.

Health care support was made available to people when their needs changed. People had plans in place so prompt actions were taken to respond to an emergency.

Each person had an assessment and staff identified their health and support needs. Care plans provided staff with enough detail to manage people’s assessed needs.

People said staff were kind and caring towards them. Care and support was carried out in a dignified way that respected their privacy.

There were systems in place to support people who required end of life care. Staff had an understanding of how to provide care at that time.

People had access to a complaints process if they were unhappy about an aspect of their care.

The registered manager assessed the quality of the care through a robust monitoring system.

Partnership working occurred with staff and health and social care professionals.

We have made a recommendation about dementia friendly activities.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Rating at last inspection

The rating for this service was Good. (The inspection report was published on 8 December 2016).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the rating of the service at the last inspection.

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.