Archived: Stadium Court Care Home

Updated 29 March 2022

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 Care Act 2014.

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

The inspection was carried out by three inspectors, an assistant inspector and two Experts 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. One Expert by Experience was on-site speaking with people and their relatives, the other made telephone calls to relatives after the site visit.

Service and service type

Stadium Court is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

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 sought feedback from the Local Authority, Healthwatch and professionals who work with the service. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 12 people who use the service and nine relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 16 members of staff including the nominated individual, regional director, area director, registered manager, unit managers, staff nurses, senior care workers, care workers, wellbeing staff, housekeeping and maintenance staff. We viewed a range of records. This included seven people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We also interviewed the registered manager over Microsoft Teams after the site visit.

Updated 29 March 2022

About the service

Stadium Court is a care home that was providing personal and nursing care to 65 people across three separate units at the time of inspection; these were called Wedgwood, Spode and Wade units. Each unit had their own adapted facilities. There were five units in total, but two were closed. The service can support up to 110 people. People who used the service were over 65 who had mental health needs such as dementia and physical disabilities.

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

Quality assurance systems had not been fully embedded, but the registered manager had been making improvements. Medicines were not always managed safely as there were some stock discrepancies, and medications that had expired but had not been disposed of. Although we did not find anyone having come to harm as a result of this, action was taken to address immediately by the registered manager and nursing staff.

Staff recruitment was on-going and some agency staff were being used to meet people’s needs.

Risks to people were not always assessed and planned for, and some care plans needed reviewing. Staff did not always understand people’s needs. This was being addressed by the registered manager.

Staff were trained to recognise and respond to concerns of abuse. There were adequate infection prevention and control measures in place.

Lessons were learned when things went wrong. Actions were taken to address incidents and share learning with staff. The registered manager was aware of their duty of candour.

Staff felt the registered manager was approachable, supportive and visible.

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 26 September 2019). The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement for the last three consecutive inspections.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about staffing, medicines and falls. 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.

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 Stadium Court Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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 a breach in relation to Regulation 17 (Good governance) at this inspection.

Follow up

We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and 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.