Stanley House

Updated 3 February 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

Stanley 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.

At the time of the inspection the service had a manager in post, but they were not yet registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means the provider is solely legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short period notice of the inspection because the home was dealing with a small outbreak of COVID-19 and we needed to be sure that the provider or manager would available to support the inspection.

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, professionals who work with the service and Healthwatch. 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. 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 five people who live at the service. Some people living at the service were not able to speak with us so we spent time to see how people were cared for by staff. 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 manager, nurse, care staff (including agency) and administrative staff. We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records and medicines records. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were also reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 3 February 2022

About the service

Stanley House is a care home providing nursing care for up to 21 people. It specialises in supporting people who have complex neurological needs including Huntington’s Disease, acquired brain injury (for example, due to a head injury or stroke) or people with mental health needs who also have physical disabilities. Care and support are provided in one adapted building and there were 20 people using the service at the time of the inspection.

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

People told us they felt safe and staff knew what to do if abuse was suspected. Evidence of safeguarding investigations were seen. Individual risk assessments had been completed. Medicines were managed safely, and actions had been taken to investigate any gaps.

People were complimentary about the staff; the staff had been recruited safely. Staff were wearing personal protective equipment, appropriate policies and guidance were available.

People received good care, people and their relatives were complementary about the service provided. People were involved in decisions and choices about the care they received. Care plans had been developed and contained information about how to support people's needs. People were supported with their communication. Activities were available to people, and engagement with the wider community was supported.

People were positive about their care and support and told us the staff were kind, caring and knew them well. People were encouraged to learn new skills and be as independent as possible. Staff supported people to live the lifestyle of their choice. People were treated with dignity and respect.

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.

The last rating for this service was good (report published 16 November 2020).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about staff culture at another home on the same site. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

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.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

The overall rating for the service has remained good. This is based on the findings at 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 Stanley House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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