Canterbury House Care Home

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

There was a positive culture which was shared throughout the staff and management team. The management team were open, honest, positive and supportive. There was a strong vision and set of values which placed people at the centre of their care and support. The staff and management team at Canterbury House Care Home continuously worked to improve the service and people’s experience. Systems were in place to monitor and improve the service. Issues that had been identified during this assessment in relation to some risk assessments, but the registered manager worked quickly to address these issues and drive improvements.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The registered manager promoted a positive culture within the service and there was a commitment to continuous improvement. The service had a listening culture and used every opportunity to gather feedback from people, relatives and staff. There were regular meetings with all groups of people and participation and comments were encouraged. Meetings were documented so actions could be reviewed before following meetings. Staff told us the culture was open and honest with good teamwork and told us the manager had an open-door policy. Staff had access to the providers policies and procedures via an online system. Key policies and procedures, such as safeguarding, and infection control were printed and, in a folder, along with signatures of staff to confirm they had read and understood them.

Staff spoke highly of the management team who they said were very supportive and approachable. Relatives told us the office was always open and that the management team was available to speak with them when required. There was a clear management structure in place with a registered manager supported by a Deputy Manager, Team Leader and Senior Care Workers. Staff understood their responsibilities to meet regulatory requirements. The registered manager was supported by provider’s senior managers and a district manager visited the service regularly to review compliance with standards and provide support and guidance to the registered manager and the team.

The registered manager encouraged staff to share their concerns or raise any issues in a transparent way. Staff told us they were confident that if they raised something, they would be listened to and actions would be taken. Staff were aware of the provider’s whistle blowing policy. Any concerns raised were investigated, including those from anonymous sources and actions were put in place to address concerns. There had been a consistent theme of poor-quality care which the registered manager had committed to improving though support and teamwork with staff. The service demonstrated good compliance with their Duty of Candour and we saw documentation to support this, where the service had apologised and told people what they would do to prevent the same thing happening again.

Staff told us they were treated fairly and equally by managers and their colleagues. Staff were supported if they had any personal issues affecting their work. The provider deployed a diverse workforce and encouraged a culture of team work, respect and cooperation.

The provider had a robust quality monitoring process in place. A range of audits were undertaken regularly, for example, infection control, mattresses, kitchen, medicines and care plans. Audit results and outcomes were reviewed by senior managers and actions from audits were transferred on to the home improvement plan. Senior managers visited the service regularly to review progress with the action plan, provide supervision and support for the registered manager and undertake their own compliance checks. These audits used the CQC’s Quality Statements to measure performance and compliance. Staff were invited to meetings and encouraged to contribute. Staff told us they had regular supervision sessions with a manager or senior member of staff. Services providing health and social care to people are required to inform the CQC of important events that happen in the service. This is so we can check that appropriate action has been taken. The registered manager had correctly submitted notifications to CQC.

The registered manager worked in partnership with local health and social care teams and had developed positive relationships with healthcare professionals such as the district nursing team and the GP surgery. Schools visited regularly to sing or play musical instruments, such as violins; people enjoyed this. There was a religious service once a month in the library, which some people enjoyed attending.

Accident, incidents, complaints or other significant events were logged on an electronic system. The system automatically produced output relating to trends and patterns to support managers to take appropriate actions and to share lessons learned. The system was used across the provider’s other services, ensuring that lessons learned were shared wider than the local service. The service was committed to continuous improvement and lessons learned from incidents, accidents or complaints were shared with the team. Staff were required to sign to confirm they understood any new actions that had been put in place to minimise the risk of similar incidents happening again. Staff told us they were able to discuss the process for learning lessons following incidents and told us they could also access this information on the electronic care planning systems.