Trafalgar Care Home

Updated 31 March 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.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector 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

Trafalgar 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. Trafalgar Care Home is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

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 reviewed information we had received from, and about, the service since our last inspection. This included feedback from the local authority quality improvement team. 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

During our visits to the home we observed the care and support people received. Some people living in the home did not use words as their main form of communication. We spoke with 4 people who were able to tell us about their experience of care. We also spoke with 9 people’s relatives.

We also spoke with the registered manager, 2 representatives from the provider organisation and 5 members of staff. We reviewed records related to the care and support of 3 people and multiple medicines administration records. We also reviewed training records, meeting minutes, and documents related to the oversight of the home including staff recruitment files.

We received feedback from 2 health professionals who supported people living at Trafalgar Care Home.

Updated 31 March 2023

About the service

Trafalgar Care Home is a residential care home. The home is registered to accommodate up to 29 older people in one adapted building. Nursing care is not provided by staff in the home. This type of care is provided by the community nursing service. At the time of this inspection there were 23 people living in the home.

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

People lived in a home where the staff team and managers were committed to providing personalised care.

Staff and managers were clear about their roles and robust systems had been implemented to ensure the quality and safety of people’s care were monitored and improvement actions taken.

There were enough safely recruited staff to meet people’s needs. People, and relatives, told us the staff were kind.

People were protected from the risks of cross infection. Staff understood how to use PPE appropriately and the home was kept clean.

People were supported by staff who understood the risks they faced and had received appropriate training. People felt safe and were supported by staff who understood how to report safeguarding concerns.

Where people could not consent to live in the home, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards had been applied for appropriately to ensure that people’s rights were protected. 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 received their medicines as prescribed. Oversight of medicines administration was robust.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

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

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

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. This included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection, that rated those key questions, 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 Trafalgar 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.