St Peter's Care and Nursing Home

Updated 25 March 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 Care Act 2014.

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.

Service and service type

St Peter’s Care and Nursing Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we held about the service and the service provider. We looked at notifications and any safeguarding alerts we had received for this service. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. Notifications are information about important events the service is required to send us by law.

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is

information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We looked around the service and met with the people who lived there. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI) during the morning of the second day of our inspection. SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We spoke with eight people to understand their views and experiences of the service and we observed how staff supported people. We spoke with the registered manager, and seven further staff members. This included care staff, housekeeping, and catering staff.

We reviewed the care records of five people and a range of other documents. For example, medicine records, four staff recruitment files; staff training records and records relating to the management of the service. We also looked at staff rotas, and records relating to health and safety.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We spoke with three relatives and four health care professionals and completed these discussions on 03 March 2022.

Updated 25 March 2022

About the service

St Peter’s Care and Nursing Home provides nursing and personal care for up to 57 older people who were living with a range of health care needs. This included people who live with a stroke, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease. Some people had memory loss associated with their age and physical health conditions. Most people required help and support from two members of staff in relation to their mobility and personal care. St Peter’s Care and Nursing Home is part of a retirement village, with 34 sheltered housing flats and cottages. There were 44 people living at St Peter’s Care and Nursing Home.

People’s experience of using this service

The providers’ governance systems had improved and were being used consistently to improve the service. There had been improvements made, but there were still areas that needed to be further improved to ensure people's safety. For example, there was a lack of clear and accurate daily records regarding some people's hydration support. Fluid charts were inconsistently recorded which meant that staff may not be able to monitor their health and well-being effectively.

People received safe care and support by staff trained to recognise signs of abuse or risk and understood what to do to safely support people. One person said, “It’s a nice and safe place to live.” Care plans and risk assessments meant peoples’ safety and well-being were protected. People were supported to take positive risks, to ensure they had as much choice and control of their lives as possible. We observed medicines being given safely to people by appropriately trained staff, who had been assessed as competent. The home was well-maintained and comfortable. There were enough staff to meet people's needs. Safe recruitment practices had been followed before staff started working at the service.

Staff had all received essential training to meet peoples support and care needs. Service specific training was sourced and staff competencies undertaken. One staff member said, “Best place to work, we get so much support and training.” People's dietary needs were assessed, and people were provided with a choice of cooked meals each day. Feedback about the food was positive and people said they enjoyed the meals. People’s health needs were consistently met with involvement from a variety of health and social care professionals.

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.

Staff were caring in their approach to the people they supported and at this inspection we saw people were treated with respect and dignity. People and visitors to the service were consistent in their views that staff were kind, caring and supportive. One health professional said, “The home atmosphere is friendly and welcoming.” People were relaxed, comfortable and happy in the company of staff and engaged with in a positive way.

People confirmed they were involved in their care planning. End of life care planning and documentation guided staff in providing care at this important stage of people’s lives. Complaints made by people were taken seriously and investigated. Resident and family meetings were now recommencing.

The registered manager and staff team were committed to continuously improve and had plans to develop the service and improve their care delivery to a good standard. Feedback from staff about the leadership was positive, “Really supportive team, and a really good place to work.”

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 (01 August 2019) and there were three 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 had met the three breaches of regulation.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. This enabled us to review the previous ratings. We also used this opportunity to look at the breaches of Regulation 12, 13 and 17. As a result, we undertook a comprehensive inspection to review all the key questions.

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.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.