Avon Valley Care Home

Updated 19 July 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 was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Avon Valley Care 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.

Registered manager

The home 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

Before the inspection we reviewed the information, we had received about the home since the last inspection. We reviewed CQC notifications. Notifications describe events that happen in the service that the provider is legally required to tell us about.

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 of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager, deputy, quality manager, four staff and five people who lived at the home. We observed how staff interacted with people. We considered all this information to help us to make a judgement about the home. We looked at a range of records relating to the management of the home, recruitment, infection control and quality assurance.

Updated 19 July 2022

Avon Valley is a care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to 78 people. At the time of the inspection, 68 people were living at the home.

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

There had been significant improvements following the inspection of 15 September 2021. Positive changes had been made to infection control measures. Staff wore face masks appropriately in line with the latest guidance. The shortfalls identified with masks had been dealt with by the registered manager. The staff involved had been spoken with and all staff had been retrained in how to safely wear masks. The systems for monitoring the home and short falls in the staff practice had improved. Spot checks were carried out of staff to check person protective equipment was worn safely. We were assured by the infection, prevention and control measures.

People told us they felt safe living at the home. Staff were trained in safeguarding and understood their responsibility to protect people from avoidable harm and abuse. Risks to people's health and safety were assessed with guidance for staff to follow. Staff were recruited safely and there were enough staff to provide safe and effective care. Medicines were stored and administered safely in line with people's prescriptions. Accidents and incidents were reported and recorded with audits in place to help identify any trends or patterns.

Staff were enthusiastic and happy in their work. They felt supported within their roles. Staff described working together as a team, they provided person-centred care and helped people to achieve their potential. There was a programme of audits in place to assist the management team to identify and address shortfalls. As a result, the home continuously improved.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (published 22 October 2021). At our last inspection we found people were not protected from the risk of infection. Official guidance was not being followed in relation to staff wearing masks. Systems for monitoring the home and ensuring people and staff were kept safe were not always robust and had not identified obvious short falls in staff practice. At this inspection we found improvements had been made.

Why we inspected

We carried out an inspection of this service on 15 September 2021. We rated the service requires improvement in Safe and Well Led due to the shortfalls, which we identified. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment.

We undertook this focused inspection to check the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led.

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. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

Follow up

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

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