Background to this inspection
Updated
11 August 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.
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 two inspectors.
Service and service type
Humphry Repton 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.
The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. The area manager was providing support and leadership, whilst a permanent registered manager was recruited.
Notice of inspection
We gave a short period notice of the inspection because the home does not currently have a registered manager and we needed to be sure there would be somebody available to support the inspection.
What we did before the inspection
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.
During the inspection-
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 looked at records relating medicines and risk assessments. We spoke with the area manager, divisional director and six members of staff including the deputy manager, team leaders and assistant team leaders.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at audits, incident reports and family meeting minutes.
Updated
11 August 2021
About the service
Humphry Repton House is residential care home providing personal and nursing care to people living with dementia. The service can support up to 45 people. At the time of the inspection there were 28 people living in the home.
The home was divided in to four wings, one of which was not currently being used for permanent accommodation but was available for people to isolate should it be necessary in line with pandemic guidance.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People using the service were not able to speak with us directly about their experience of living in the home. Through observation we saw that people responded positively to staff with smiles and vocalisation.
There were clear plans and risks assessments in place to support people safely. These outlined the measures in place that were required to manage specific risks. Staff worked with relevant healthcare professionals when necessary and followed their advice and guidance. For example, staff liaised with the speech and language therapist in relation to a person at risk of choking.
The home were following their own action plan in relation to medicines. Some areas for improvement had been identified through the home’s own audit procedures and these were being addressed.
The home was well led. There was no registered manager at the time of inspection; however, the provider was actively recruiting. The provider was in the process of working through an improvement plan for the home. This had involved changes in the staffing structure to support nurses in having more time to concentrate on clinical tasks. There were team leaders and assistant team leaders in each wing.
There was a person centred culture within the home; we heard examples of support where staff had taken time to meet people’s individual needs and this had led to a better quality of life for them. For example, by eating better or by engaging with staff in going out shopping. People and their representatives were involved in the running of the home. Their views were listened to and actively sought through regular family meetings.
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 (3 December 2020).
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about medicines and the safety and wellbeing of people using the service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. 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.
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 Humphry Repton house on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.