St George's Nursing Home

Updated 29 June 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 two inspectors 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

St George’s Nursing 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. St George’s nursing 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 a manager in post, though they were not yet registered with CQC. They were planning to submit their application.

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 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

People were not able to give us detailed verbal feedback about the home, due to their dementia. We used 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 spoke with the manager and 6 members of staff. We contacted 8 relatives by phone. We reviewed care records for 3 people and looked at other records relating to the running of the service such as Medicine Administration Record (MAR) charts and audits.

Updated 29 June 2023

About the service

St George’s Nursing Home is a care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 66 people. The service provides support for people living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 59 people using the service.

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

We found some areas of the service that were in breach of regulation and required improvement. This related to care planning around people’s clinical needs and record keeping of people’s care and support. Records did not always fully reflect the actions staff had taken to support a person.

People were supported by staff who were kind and caring in their approach and understood people’s individual needs well. There were sufficient numbers of staff to meet people’s needs safely. Systems were in place to ensure that staff were recruited in a safe way.

Staff received training and supervision to support them to carry out their roles effectively. Staff told us they enjoyed working in the home and were well supported. People’s weights were monitored so that action could be taken if there were concerns about a person’s nutrition. Staff worked with GPs and healthcare professionals when necessary to meet people’s health needs.

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.

There were new systems being introduced to monitor and audit the service and the regional manager was supporting the home in this process.

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 1 December 2022) and there were breaches of regulation. 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 the service continued to be in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We undertook a focused inspection of the service to check on breaches of regulation found at our last inspection (published 1 December 2022).

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.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for St George’s Nursing Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to safety and governance.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.