Latimer Court

Updated 5 October 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.

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 team consisted of one inspector and a specialist advisor in nursing.

Service and service type

Latimer Court 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. Latimer 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 requested feedback from Healthwatch to obtain their views of the service. 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 one relative and five relatives emailed us to provide feedback about the service. 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 six members of staff including the registered manager, regional director, nurses, care staff, head chef and head of housekeeping.

We reviewed a range of records. This included care records and multiple medicine records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 5 October 2022

About the service

Latimer Court is a residential care home that provides personal care and nursing for up to 80 people aged 65 and over. The home's purpose-built environment is divided into four communities: Avalon, Grosvenor, Woodbury and Beaufort. At the time of our inspection there were 62 people living at the home, some of whom are living with dementia.

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

Since our last inspection there had been improvements in medicine management. This included systems and procedures for checking of medicine administration and escalating concerns to the registered manager.

The provider had systems in place to safeguard people from the risk of abuse and staff knew how and who to raise any possible safeguarding concerns to. People were supported by staff who had been safely recruited. People’s needs were regularly monitored to ensure there were enough staff on duty to meet their needs.

People were protected from infection as there were effective infection prevention and control procedures in place which staff followed to keep people safe.

There were effective quality assurance systems in place to monitor, manage and improve service delivery. This included regular audits and checks. These were used to identify any areas for improvement.

People, relatives and staff were offered opportunities to provide feedback about the care provided at Latimer Court.

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 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 02 September 2021) 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 improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received in relation to staffing arrangements impacting on people’s care and support. We also wanted assurances the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions safe and well-led which contain those requirements.

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.

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 based on the findings of this inspection.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Latimer 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.