Summerville Care Home

Updated 5 July 2023

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

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type

Summerville 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. Summerville Care Home is a care home with nursing care. 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 not a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before 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 received feedback from the local authority. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with nine people who used the service and five people’s family members about their experiences at the home and the care provided. We also spoke with provider’s area director, home manager, deputy manager and 13 other staff members.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 4 people's care records and multiple medication records. We looked at the recruitment files for 3 staff employed since our last inspection.

After the inspection visit

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We reviewed a range of records relating to the safe management of the service including audits, safety checks and training records.

Updated 5 July 2023

About the service

Summerville Care Home is a residential care home providing nursing and personal care for up to 45 people in one adapted building. The service provides support to older people and people living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 31 people using the service.

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

People told us they were safe at the home. One person said about the home, “Oh, its lovely. The staff are fine. I've never seen anything that would upset me.” They told us they had confidence in reporting anything of concern to staff. Another person said, “They treat me nice; I’m quite happy here.” We saw that people had positive, comfortable, and relaxed interactions with staff members. People told us they trusted the staff caring for them.

There was a calm atmosphere at the home and there were positive relationships between people at the home and staff members. We observed staff being attentive, kind, and respectful to people and their needs. One person told us, “The staff can’t do enough for us.” Another person said, “The staff are great.”

Staff, some people and their families told us the culture of the home was not always open, inclusive, and empowering. There had been some improvement in culture and management engaging with other staff members. However, this had not always been effective, was not embedded and had not led to significant improvements in the culture amongst the staff team.

People’s family members told us the new manager had not been visible, there had been minimal interactions with them, and they had not communicated effectively. They told us that frequent changes of management at the home has had a destabilising effect.

The provider was responsive to our feedback and took steps to address the culture of the service.

The service provided for people was safe; risks in people’s care were monitored and well managed. Staff received appropriate training to support people safely. The provider had ensured the building and its services were well maintained and safe. People’s medicines were safely managed.

There were enough staff at the home to meet people’s needs safely. The provider had a system for assessing people’s support needs and deploying staff to meet people’s needs safely.

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.

People and their family member told us the home was clean, fresh and well maintained. One person told us, “The home is immaculately clean.”

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 requires improvement (published 26 October 2021).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns highlighted during our ongoing monitoring of the service in relation to the culture and leadership of the service. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

The provider took action during the inspection window to mitigate these risks.

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.

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 requires improvement to good, based on the findings of this inspection.

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