Alan Morkill House

Updated 13 February 2021

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.

As part of CQC’s response to care homes with outbreaks of coronavirus, we are conducting reviews to ensure that the Infection Prevention and Control practice was safe and the service was compliant with IPC measures. This was a targeted inspection looking at the IPC practices the provider has in place.

This inspection took place on 25 January 2021 and was announced. We phoned the home one hour before we planned to inspect to ensure the registered manager was available to support the inspection.

Updated 13 February 2021

About the service: Alan Morkill House is residential care home that was providing personal care to 49 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection, including people living with dementia.

People’s experience of using this service:

Feedback from people using the service and their relatives reflected the significant improvements the home has made since the last inspection.

People were cared for by staff who knew how to keep them safe and protect them from avoidable harm.

Staff were kind and compassionate, and we saw evidence of good caring relationships between people and staff. There was a good atmosphere at the home. A relative told us, “The staff here are fantastic, very keen, very enthusiastic, very caring.”

People’s needs and wishes were assessed and documented, and care plans were reviewed regularly. Staff knew the people they cared for and understood their communication needs.

People were provided with a nutritious diet. Support with eating was provided in a caring and dignified way.

People were supported to have choice and control in their lives and were supported in the least restrictive way possible. The principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 were followed.

The home was clean, recently decorated, and well maintained.

People were supported by staff who were safely recruited and trained.

People and their relatives spoke very highly of the registered manager who had successfully led the improvements to the home. Staff spoke highly of the home as a workplace.

More information is in the full version of the report.

Rating at last inspection: At the last inspection the home was rated Requires Improvement. At this inspection the rating has improved to Good.

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on previous rating.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk