Kent House Residential Home

Updated 1 March 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 completed by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

Kent House 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. Kent House 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 not a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 4 people and 3 relatives about their experiences of the service. We spoke with 6 staff including the manager and 3 care staff. We reviewed a range of records. This included 6 people’s care records, medication records and 2 staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including checks and audits were reviewed.

Updated 1 March 2023

About the service

Kent House is a residential care home providing personal care to 17 older people or people living with dementia at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 25 people. Accommodation is arranged over three floors and a lift is available to assist people to get to the upper floors.

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

People told us they were happy and felt safe living at Kent House. One relative told us, “I can’t fault the care”. We found improvements had been made and people were no longer at risk of harm.

The registered manager had left the service in September 2022 and the provider was looking to appoint a replacement. No applications from appointable candidates had been received and the provider continued to seek a new manager. In the interim they had arranged for the service to been led by an experienced manager. The manager had worked with the staff team to make improvements at the service.

People were at the centre of everything that happened at the service and staff now worked as a team to ensure people received a good standard of care. Staff felt supported and appreciated.

There were enough staff with the required skills and experience to meet people’s needs. People told us staff were “helpful” and “They help me”. Relatives told us staff were, “nice and good and caring”, “friendly and responsive” and “They really do care”. They also told us staff were gentle when they supported people.

People’s needs had been assessed with them before they moved into the service. Risks to people had been assessed and care had been planned with them to keep them as safe as possible. People’s medicines were managed safely and people received the medicines and health care they needed to stay well. Staff knew how to identify safeguarding concerns and were confident to raise these with the provider and outside organisations.

People told us they enjoyed the food at the service. Meals were prepared to meet people’s needs and preferences.

Regular checks and audits had been completed and any shortfalls identified. Action had been taken to address these. When things had gone wrong the provider learnt lessons and took action to prevent them from happening again. People and their relatives had received an apology.

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 received visitors when they wanted to and went out with friends, family and staff.

The building had been adapted to meet people’s needs. It was clean and staff followed best practice guidance to protect people from the risk of the spread of infection.

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 15 December 2022). We applied a condition to the provider’s registration requiring them to send us a monthly report on the actions they had taken to improve the quality of the service. 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 carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last 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.

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.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Kent House 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.