Archived: St Stephen's Care Home

Updated 21 December 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

We undertook an unannounced comprehensive inspection on 9 November 2016. The inspection team consisted of one inspector and one expert by experience, with expertise in dementia and elderly care. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

As part of the inspection we reviewed information we held about the service including, the provider information return and statutory notifications that had been submitted. Statutory notifications include information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We spoke with the local authority about information they held about the provider.

Some of the people we spoke with were not able to tell us in detail about their care and support because of their complex needs. 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 spoke with 14 people who used the service and three relatives. We also spoke with three care staff and two senior care staff, one agency care staff, the registered manager and the regional manager.

We reviewed one person’s care records and three people’s medicines records. We also looked at provider audits for environment and maintenance checks, compliments, complaints, incident and accident audits and staff meeting minutes and service users questionnaire responses.

Updated 21 December 2016

This inspection took place on 9 November 2016 and was unannounced. St Stephen’s Care Home provides personal care and accommodation for up to 51 older people. There were 44 people who were living at the home on the day of our visit.

There was a registered manager in place at the time of our inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People lived in a safe environment as staff knew how to protect people from harm. We found staff recognised signs of abuse and knew how to report this. Staff made sure risk assessments were in place and took actions to minimise risks.

There were sufficient staff on duty to meet people’s needs. People told us that staff helped them when they needed assistance. Regular reviews of people’s care and deployment of staff meant staffing levels were reflected the needs of people who lived at the home. People’s medicines were administered and managed in a safe way.

The registered manager supported staff by arranging training so staff developed the skills to provide care and support to people which was in-line with best practice. People and relatives told us of the positive benefits this had on the care and support received. We found that staff provided people’s care with their consent and agreement.

People were supported to eat a healthy balanced diet and with enough fluids to keep them healthy. People had access to healthcare professionals, such as the chiropodist and their doctor when they required them and where supported to attend hospital appointments.

We saw people were involved in the planning around their care. People’s views and decisions they had made about their care were listened and acted upon. People told us that staff treated them kindly, with dignity and their privacy was respected.

People were supported to continue with their hobbies and interests. People felt the general activities and entertainment in the home was good, with aspects they enjoyed doing. People were supported to go to church when they wanted. Where people wanted to spend time in their rooms staff respected their decision.

We found people knew how to complain and felt comfortable to do this should they feel they needed to. We looked at the providers complaints over the last 12 months. We found nine complaints had been received, all of which had been responded to with satisfactory outcomes for the complainants.

The registered manager demonstrated clear leadership. Staff were supported to carry out their roles and responsibilities effectively, which meant that people received care and support in-line with their needs and wishes.

We found the checks the registered manager and regional manager completed focused upon the experiences people received. Where areas for improvement were identified, systems were in place to ensure lessons were learnt and used to improve staff practice.