6 March 2020
During a routine inspection
Colbury House is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to 39 people aged 65 and over some who may be living with dementia at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 58 people.
During our previous inspection in December 2018 we identified two breaches of regulations. We issued requirement notices in respect of those breaches. At this inspection we found improvements had been made; however, there was a need to sustain the improvements made and to make further improvements. The service has been rated as requires improvement as it met the characteristics for this rating in most key questions. More information is in the full report.
The previous provider had gone into administration before our planned inspection. A care consultancy company had been brought in by the administrators to assist in the running of the service and to ensure people were kept safe till a new provider had been sought. The care consultancy company had made improvements to keep people safe while they had been managing the service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People told us they felt safe. However, some environmental risks were not managed effectively. Improvements were needed for the safe management of water.
We have made a recommendation about the management of legionella and water hygiene management.
Overall, improvements had been made to the management of risks to people and safety monitoring, but these needed to be further embedded into practice to ensure that people were consistently kept safe from harm.
There were systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service provided, however these were not always effective and identifying areas for improvement or where safety had been compromised.
Improvements were still needed to ensure people received person centred care which was responsive to their individual needs.
People felt safe living at Colbury House Nursing Home, and they were very much at the heart of the service. We received positive feedback from people and their relatives about the care provided.
There were plans in place for foreseeable emergencies. Staff were able to tell us how to keep people safe.
Relevant recruitment checks were conducted before staff started working at the service to make sure they were of good character and had the necessary skills.
Staff had received training in safeguarding adults and knew how to identify, prevent and report abuse. There were enough staff to keep people safe.
Medicines administration records (MAR) confirmed people had received their medicines as prescribed.
Staff received support and one to one sessions or supervision to discuss areas of development. They completed training and felt it supported them in their job role.
People were supported with their nutritional needs. People received varied meals including a choice of fresh food and drinks. Staff were aware of people’s likes and dislikes
People were treated with kindness and compassion. Staff were able to identify and discuss the importance of maintaining people’s respect and privacy at all times.
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.
The provider’s quality assurance system helped the management team implement improvements that would benefit people. Action had been taken to become compliant with one of the breaches of regulation identified at the previous inspection.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 22 January 2019) and there were two breaches of regulation. 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; however, there was a need to sustain the improvements made and to make further improvements
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvement. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.