Cedar House

Updated 20 April 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 conducted by 2 inspectors, a member of the CQC medicines team and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Cedar House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. Cedar House 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 a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We looked at all the information we held about the provider, including their action plan, information from the local authority and notifications of significant events. 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.

During the inspection

We spoke with 8 people who lived at the service and staff on duty, who included care workers, senior care workers, catering and domestic staff, and the management team. We looked at the care records for 6 people who lived at the service and other records used by the provider for managing the service. These included audits, meeting minutes, records of complaints, accidents, and incidents.

We observed how people were being cared for and supported. Our observations included, the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We looked around the building, at the environment, equipment, and cleanliness. We looked at how medicines were being managed.

Updated 20 April 2023

About the service

Cedar House is a nursing home for up to 42 older people. At the time of our inspection, 39 people were living at the service. The service is managed by HC-One Limited, an organisation providing care in over 300 care homes across the United Kingdom.

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

People were happy living at the service. They liked the staff and felt their needs were met.

People were safely cared for. They were given their medicines in a safe way. Risks were assessed, planned for, and mitigated.

Staff felt well supported and had the information they needed to care for people.

People’s care had been planned to reflect their needs and choices.

There were suitable systems for monitoring and improving the quality of the service, including dealing with complaints, investigating when things went wrong and learning from these incidents.

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.

For more information, please read the detailed findings section of this report. If you are reading this as a separate summary, the full report can be found on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 22 February 2022).

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 regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 25 January 2022. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve person-centred care, safe care and treatment and good governance.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe, responsive and well-led which contain those requirements.

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. 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 Cedar House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.