The Old Vicarage Residential Home

Updated 28 January 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.

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

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

The Old Vicarage Residential 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. The Old Vicarage Residential 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 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 asked the local authority and Healthwatch for any information they had which would aid our inspection. Local authorities together with other agencies may have responsibility for funding people who used the service and monitoring it’s quality. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 3 people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. Additionally, we spoke with 3 staff members including the registered manager, 1 senior carer and 1 carer.

We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people’s care plans and multiple records of medicine administration. We looked at a variety of documents relating to the management of the service, including quality monitoring checks. We reviewed the recruitment of 2 staff members.

Updated 28 January 2023

About the service

The Old Vicarage Residential Home is a residential care home providing personal care to 12 people aged 60 and over at the time of the inspection, some of whom were living with dementia. The service can support up to 15 people.

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

People received safe support with their medicines from staff members who had been trained and assessed as competent. Staff members followed effective infection prevention and control procedures when supporting people. People were supported by enough staff who were available to assist them in a timely way.

The provider had assessed the risks associated with people’s care and support. Staff members were knowledgeable about these risks and knew what to do to minimise the potential for harm. People were protected from the risks of ill-treatment and abuse as staff had been trained to recognise potential signs of abuse and understood what to do if they suspected harm or abuse.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and the provider supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the application of the policies and systems supported good practice.

The provider supported staff in providing effective care to people through person-centred care planning, training and one-to-one supervision. People were referred to additional healthcare services if needed and staff were knowledgeable about any recommendations or treatments. People were supported by staff members who were aware of their individual protected characteristics like age, religion, gender and disability.

The provider, and management team, had good links with the local communities within which people lived. The provider had effective systems in place to identify improvements and drive good care.

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 19 November 2019). 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 location is now rated good.

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, effective 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.

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.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Old Vicarage Residential 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.