Perry Locks Care Home

Updated 12 January 2019

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, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on the 04 December 2018 and was unannounced with a return announced visit on the 05 December 2018. The inspection team consisted of four inspectors, two assistance inspectors, two experts by experience and two specialist advisors on the first day and one inspector on the second day. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of service. The specialist advisors were registered nurses with professional skills, knowledge and clinical experience in supporting people with complex nursing and dementia care needs.

The inspection was scheduled and as part of the inspection process we looked at information we already held about the provider. Providers are required to notify the Care Quality Commission about specific events and incidents that occur including serious injuries to people receiving care and any incidences that put people at risk of harm. We refer to these as notifications. We checked if the provider had sent us notifications in order to plan the areas we wanted to focus on during our inspection. We also reviewed the Provider Information Return (PIR) the provider had submitted to us. A PIR is a form that asks the provider to give key information about the home, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed regular quality reports sent to us by the local authority to see what information they held about the service. These are reports that tell us if the local authority commissioners have concerns about the service they purchase on behalf of people. There were no additional concerns raised. This helped us to plan the inspection.

We used a number of different methods to help us understand the experiences of people who lived at the service. We spoke with 17 people, 14 relatives, 13 staff members that included seniors, care and domestic staff, catering staff, four nurses, four unit managers, a quality assurance manager and the registered manager. We also spent time observing the daily life in the units including the care and support being delivered. As there were a number of people living at the service who could not tell us about their experience, we undertook a Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI) observations. (SOFI is a specific way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.)

We sampled 15 people’s care records to see how their support was planned and delivered and medication records to see how their medicine was managed. We looked at three recruitment files to check suitable staff members were recruited. The provider’s training records were also looked at to check staff were appropriately trained and supported to deliver care that met people’s individual needs. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service to ensure people received a good quality service.

Updated 12 January 2019

At our last inspection on the 10 and 11 May 2017, we found the service required improvement in all of the questions, is the service safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. At this inspection we found there had been sufficient improvement to rate this service as an overall good.

The inspection visits took place on the 04 and 05 December 2018. Perry Locks provides accommodation and support for up to 128 adults with nursing care needs. The home comprises of four units, Perry Well House, Calthorpe House, Lawrence House and Brooklyn House. At the time of our inspection visit 110 people were living there. 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.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The provider’s quality monitoring processes required some further improvement to ensure potential dangers were identified and requests for repairs were completed in a timely way. Some care plans were not consistently updated following professional visits. There were some gaps in the recording of medicines and administration of topical creams.

People were kept safe. Staff understood how to protect people from risk of harm. People's risks were assessed, monitored and managed to ensure they remained safe. Processes were in place to keep people safe in the event of an emergency such as a fire. People were protected by safe recruitment procedures to ensure suitable staff were recruited. People received their prescribed medicines when required by trained staff. Staff understood their responsibilities in relation to hygiene and infection control.

People told us they received support from staff they felt had the skills required to support them safely. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People were encouraged to eat healthily. People had access to healthcare professionals when needed in order to maintain their health and wellbeing.

Staff encouraged people's independence where practicably possible. People received a service that was caring and respected their privacy. People were supported by staff who knew them well.

People received a service that was responsive to their individual needs. Care plans were personalised and contained details about people's preferences and their routines. People were supported to pursue hobbies and activities that interested them and processes were in place to respond to any issues or complaints. Where people’s faith was important to them, they were supported to continue with following their beliefs. This included their end of life (EOL) wishes.

The registered manager understood their role and responsibilities and staff felt supported and listened to. People and staff were encouraged to give feedback and their views were acted on to enhance the quality of the service provided to people. People and staff were complimentary about the leadership and management of the home and said the registered manager was friendly and approachable. The provider worked in conjunction with other agencies to provide people with effective care.