Princes Court

Updated 9 September 2022

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.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Princes Court 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. Princes Court 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 service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

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 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. We also contacted Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. 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 used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with seven people, four relatives and 20 staff including the regional manager, the registered manager, the deputy manager, the provider’s dementia specialist lead, the trainee advanced clinical practitioner the night nurse manager, a nurse, nursing associate, two senior care workers, four care workers, two activities coordinators, head chef, administrator and a member of the domestic team.

We reviewed people’s electronic care records, medicines records and records relating to staff recruitment, training and the management of the home.

Following our visits to the home, we contacted nine staff, one relative and three health and social care professionals via email and three relatives by phone for additional feedback. We also contacted a fire officer from the local Fire and Rescue Service.

Updated 9 September 2022

About the service

Princes Court is a care home providing personal and nursing care for up to 75 people aged 65 and over,

some of whom were living with dementia. At the time of the inspection 72 people were living at the service. The home also had a rehabilitation unit called Royal Quays where people were admitted from hospital to recover and regain their independence.

People, relatives and staff spoke positively about the service. One relative said, “If you have someone who needs help, I would recommend this place 110%. It's a joy coming here, the staff are great.” Staff told us they had worked as a team throughout the pandemic to support people’s wellbeing and that of the staff. They explained that care at the home would be good enough for one of their relatives or friends.

Risk assessments were reviewed following a fall to help ensure timely action could be taken to help prevent any reoccurrence. The service was involved in an Assisted Living Technology pilot. The technology was non-invasive and helped support people’s independence, safety and wellbeing. It alerted staff to any concerns or risks to a person’s health such as the risk of falls.

The local Fire and Rescue Service had recently visited and identified several fire safety measures to be undertaken. The registered manager and estates manager confirmed that these had been completed with the exception of one action which was due to be carried out soon.

There were sufficient staff deployed to meet people’s needs. People and relatives said that there were enough staff to support people. One relative told us, “There's always staff around - they're handy and very willing to do anything.”

Medicines were managed safely. Medicines administration records demonstrated that medicines were given as prescribed.

The home was clean. One relative told us, “I would recommend it and it's clean there’s never been a smell.” We signposted the provider to additional resources including the recording of COVID-19 checks which were carried out prior to and on admission.

There was an emphasis on staff training and progression. Champions roles had been appointed in all aspects of people’s care such as palliative care, falls and dementia. One health professional told us, “We have a good working relationship with the manager and in my opinion it is well led. [Registered manager] often asks us to deliver training to her staff.”

People were supported to eat and drink enough to meet their needs. People spoke positively about the meals. Comments included, “Sometimes you don't feel like a big meal, but they bring little snacks” and “We had a curry yesterday it was spicy and lovely.”

The registered manager sent us several case studies to show how being at the home, with the support of staff, had led to an improvement in people's health, independence and wellbeing.

The service were involved in research projects which helped demonstrate a commitment to promoting safe, effective practice and achieving good outcomes for people.

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 good (published 3 September 2020). We also carried out an unrated targeted inspection which looked at the IPC practices the provider had in place (published 24 February 2021).

Why we inspected

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.

The inspection was carried out due to concerns received about one person’s care. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

The information CQC received indicated concerns about the management of falls, the safety of the environment, staff training and the management of the service. This inspection examined those risks.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns. Please see the safe, effective and well led key questions of this full report. 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 remained 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 Princes Court 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.