Rushley House Retirement Home

Updated 30 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 an inspector.

Service and service type

Rushley House Retirement 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.

Inspection activity started on 3 March 2022 and ended the same day.

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, commissioners and professionals who work with the service. We also looked at information we had received and held on our system about the service, this included notifications sent to us by the provider and information passed to us by members of the public. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

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.

During the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service. We spoke with two relatives about their experience. We spoke with two members of staff including the registered manager and a senior care worker. We also spoke with a provider representative who was a director of the provider company. We looked at a variety of records to gather information and assess the level of care and support provided to people. We reviewed two care records. We also considered a variety of records relating to the management and governance of the service.

We looked around the home in both communal and private areas to establish if the environment met the needs of people who lived there.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the registered manager to validate evidence found.

Updated 30 March 2022

About the service

Rushley House Retirement Home is a residential care home registered to accommodate up to 13 people in need of personal care. Accommodation is provided over two floors with single rooms. On the day of the inspection, there were 12 people living at the home.

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

Improvements had been made around recording issues seen at an earlier inspection and this meant we were assured staff were supporting people in a caring and sensitive way. People's needs and requirements were properly recorded in care records.

There was no formal activities programme and an absence of records around people's wishes in this area. Although there were some activities taking place, people did not always have access to a range of activities and we have made a recommendation about this in the 'Responsive' section of the report.

Infection, Prevention and Control (IPC) processes were thorough. We were assured about the service's ability to mitigate the transmission of infections.

Safe visiting processes were in place to ensure people could see visitors when they wished and could maintain relationships that were important to them. There had been no recent complaints but we were assured any would be dealt with appropriately.

People told us they felt cared for and were happy with the service they received. Relatives said staff were kind and caring and treated their loved ones well. At inspection, we noted good interactions between people, management and staff.

Care plan records provided a guide to staff to help people to retain their independence and receive support with minimum risk to themselves or others. People's care and support needs were assessed prior to them using the service to ensure their needs could be met. Where people's needs could not be met, the home worked well with others to ensure people were appropriately supported.

People were supported to live healthy lives and had access to health and social care professionals.

The home worked in partnership with other organisations to provide effective and consistent care. 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 were treated as individuals which helped protect their dignity. Their equality and diversity needs were respected by a caring staff team. Staff understood the importance of giving people their time and the importance of encouraging people to maintain their independence.

People were happy with the way the service was managed. People's views and opinions of the service were sought and acted on.

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 'Requires improvement' (published 24 October 2020). Although that inspection noted improvements from an inspection in 2019, the overall rating remained the same. The earlier inspection was published on 26 April 2019.

At our inspection in 2019, we made recommendations in three areas. These were -

Improving on staff record keeping which did not always show they responded in a caring manner.

Records not always reflecting people's needs.

The service not always supporting people to take part in a range of activities.

At this inspection, we found the provider had acted on recommendations on the care plan recording issues and improvements were seen. However, it had not acted on the recommendation related to activities and we did not note any improvement. A further recommendation on this can be seen within the 'Responsive' section of this report.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on improvements we told the provider to take at the 2019 inspection. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of 'Caring', 'Responsive' and 'Well-led'. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

We looked at infection prevention and control (IPC) measures in the 'Safe' domain but have not provided a rating for this key question. It was considered in detail at the 29 October 2020 inspection and there were no grounds to look at it in detail at this inspection. We look at IPC measures 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 were assured in all areas and appropriate IPC measures were in place.

The overall rating for the service has changed from 'Requires improvement' to 'Good' based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Rushley House Retirement Home 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.