13 July 2021
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Sunnycroft Care Home is a residential care home that can provide accommodation and personal care to up to 59 people. Care is provided over two floors, each having their own separate communal areas for people to access. At the time of the inspection, 33 people were residing in the home, most of whom were living with dementia.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The provider’s governance systems had failed to robustly monitor the quality of care provided to people. Risks to people's safety had not always been adequately assessed and managed and the systems in place to protect people from the risk of abuse were not effective.
There were enough staff working in the service to keep them safe but not to provide them with adequate stimulation to enhance their wellbeing. The provider had recognised this prior to our inspection, and plans were in place to improve this area.
Relatives were happy with the care provided to their family members. They felt the culture was open and that the management team and provider was approachable. However, not all staff felt this way with some telling us they did not feel confident to raise concerns for fear of reprisals. Furthermore, external organisations such as the local authority and CQC had not been notified of incidents when they should have been, to enable them to have adequate oversight of the care people received. This did not demonstrate a truly open and transparent culture.
Most of the required checks had been completed to ensure staff working in the service were safe to do so. People received their medicines when they needed them, and the service and equipment people used was clean. There were good systems in place to prevent the spread of infection including COVID-19.
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 the service was Requires Improvement (published 16 May 2019) and there were two breaches of regulation. The provider completed an improvement plan to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection enough improvement had not been made and the provider was still in breach of regulations. The service remains rated Requires Improvement. This service has been rated Requires Improvement for the last four consecutive inspections.
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about safeguarding people from the risk of abuse and the culture within the service. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. 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.
The overall rating for the service has remained as Requires Improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection. We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvement. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.
Enforcement
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.
We have identified breaches in relation to assessing and managing risks to people’s safety, protecting people from the risk of abuse, monitoring the quality of care provided and for not notifying CQC of certain incidents as is required by law.
Following the inspection, and the identified breaches, we had serious concerns about the quality monitoring systems of this service and so we took enforcement action. The provider is now required to send us a report each month to tell us the actions they are taking to monitor the service, ensure people receive safe care and treatment, and make the necessary improvements.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will work with the local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.