Dell House

Updated 30 December 2021

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.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector. An Expert by Experience made telephone calls to people and their relatives to ask about their experience of the service.

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

Dell House 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.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the it’s registration. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service and two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with five members of staff including the operations manager, quality manager, registered manager, care workers and the chef. 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 reviewed a range of records. This included six people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 30 December 2021

About the service

Dell House is a care home providing accommodation and personal care to 50 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 66 people.

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

People told us they felt safe living at Dell House. Staff had a good understanding of how to keep people safe. Individual risk assessments and care planning was in place to guide staff on how to minimise risks.

Medicines were managed, monitored and administered safely. Errors were identified promptly and addressed.

The service was clean and there were appropriate processes in place to minimise the risk of the transmission of infections such as COVID19.

People told us there were sufficient numbers of staff to provide them with support when they needed it. This confirmed our observations. Robust recruitment procedures were in place to ensure prospective staff had the right background and character to work with vulnerable people.

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 told us they were able to make decisions and that staff respected their choices.

People received appropriate support to eat and drink. People told us the food was good quality and they had a good choice of meals.

The service had a good relationship with the local doctor’s surgery and had regular face to face visits from surgery staff to discuss people’s needs.

There was a caring culture in the service and staff were observed to be pleasant, kind and warm towards people. People told us the staff were kind to them and treated them well. Care was personalised to the individual and staff had a good understanding of people’s personal preferences, likes and dislikes.

People were involved in the planning of their care where possible and were encouraged to feedback their views in a number of ways. People told us they knew how to make complaints.

The provider had robust quality assurance processes in place to monitor the quality of the service and identify areas for improvement. Audits were carried out by senior staff, the registered manager as well as a quality manager and overseen by an operations manager. This ensured that any actions identified were followed up.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 18 March 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was the services first inspection.