Abbeyfield House - New Malden

Updated 19 July 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 undertaken 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

Abbeyfield House – New Malden 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. Abbeyfield House – New Malden 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 the registered manager was not in post overseeing the day to day management of the service. The deputy manager was currently acting up into this position and overseeing the day to day management of the service, with support from the regional operations manager.

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 used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR) and recently completed direct monitoring activity (DMA). 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 3 people, 4 relatives and 10 staff, including care workers, team leaders, the deputy manager and the regional operations manager. We reviewed 3 people’s care records. We reviewed the safety of the environment, medicines management, staffing records and records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 19 July 2023

About the service

Abbeyfield House – New Malden is a residential care home providing personal care to up to 36 people. The service provides support to older people, many of whom were living dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 36 people using the service.

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

There had been a recent period of instability within the management of the home and this had had an impact on staff morale, communication and engagement with people and their relatives. In the months preceding our inspection the deputy manager had been undertaking the day to day management of the service. They had implemented a number of new initiatives and people, relatives and staff felt comfortable speaking with them and raising any concerns. Any concerns raised or incidents that occurred were investigated and lessons were learnt to improve practice at the home. There was a detailed service improvement plan in place, and the management team were in the process of implementing these improvements.

Staff knew people well and treated them with kindness and respect. They supported people to live as independently as possible, whilst being available to support with any risks to their safety. 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 involved in their care and how they spent their time.

Staff supported people with medicines management. Infection prevention and control procedures were in place, and people lived in a clean and hygienic environment. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe.

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 9 March 2022) and there were breaches 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

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, caring and well-led only.

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 Abbeyfield House – New Malden 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.