St John's Home

Updated 13 April 2023

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by 1 inspector and an Expert by Experience. 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

St John’s Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. St John’s Home is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

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 and health professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 7 people who used the service and 2 relatives to share their experiences of care received. As such we looked around the home and observed the way staff interacted with people. We spoke with 7 members of staff including the registered manager, deputy manager, operations manager and 4 care staff. We received feedback from 2 visiting healthcare professionals.

We reviewed a range of records relating to people’s care and the way the service was managed. These included 7 people’s care records and 8 medicine administration records (MAR). We also looked at staff training records, 5 staff recruitment files, quality assurance audits, incident and accident reports, and records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 13 April 2023

About the service

St John’s Home is a residential care home providing accommodation for persons who require nursing or personal care to up to 50 people. The service provides support to older people. At the time of our inspection there were 30 people using the service.

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

Some environmental risks were not always mitigated. The registered manager addressed these concerns following our inspection. People's needs were assessed, and clear risk assessments were in place to guide staff. However, risk assessments for high-risk medications were not in place. Staff received safeguarding training and knew what to do if they thought someone was at risk. Medicines were managed safely. There were safe systems of recruitment in place.

Feedback about the service, staff and management was positive. Staff worked in effective partnership with external professionals. The management team had oversight of the service and demonstrated commitment to the continued development of the service. Actions were taken to develop and improve identified areas.

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 and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 16 March 2021) and there were breeches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced focused inspection of this service on 10 February 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found. 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 and good governance.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they 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 which contain those requirements.

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.

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 based on the findings of this inspection.

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

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.