Link House

Updated 12 January 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.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

Link House is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was now a registered manager in post.

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 used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke in-person with 2 people living at the care home, a visiting friend, the newly registered manager, the area manager, the deputy manager, and 2 nurses, including the clinical lead nurse. We also received email feedback from a local authority pharmacist and a commissioner in relation to their views and experiences of working with this provider.

Records we looked at as part of this inspection included, 5 people’s care plans, multiple staff files in relation to their recruitment, training and supervision and 10 medicines administration sheets. A variety of other documents relating to the overall management and governance of the agency were also read.

Updated 12 January 2023

About the service

Link House is a residential care home that can provide nursing and personal care for up to 52 people. At the time of our inspection 49 people were living at the care home. The building comprising of 3 separate floors, each of which has its own separate adapted facilities. The service provides support to older people, most of whom are living with dementia. Approximately half the people residing at the care home have nursing needs.

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

People living at the care home and staff working there all told us the service had improved in the last 12 months and was now well-led by the newly registered manager and the area manager. 1 person said, “I am very happy living here and I think the new managers have done a really good job improving things for everyone who lives and works here.”

At our last inspection we found the provider had failed to always ensure people were not placed at risk of harm. This was because the care home was inconsistently led as they continued to experience high levels of management turnover and had been without a registered manager for well over a year. We also found staff did not always have access to clear enough guidance in relation to how to keep people safe from identified risks they might face and how their prescribed medicines were stored. Furthermore, staff did not always have the right level of training and support they needed to effectively perform their roles and responsibilities.

At this inspection we saw enough improvement had been made by the provider in relation to the way the care home was now led by suitably competent and skilled managers, how staff prevented and managed risks people might face, safely stored medicines, were trained and supported, and how they operated their established governance systems.

People were kept safe and were confident any concerns they raised would be listened to. Staff understood how to safeguard people. People were cared for and supported by staff who knew how to manage risks they might face. The premises were kept hygienically clean and staff followed current best practice guidelines regarding the prevention and control of infection including, those associated with COVID-19. Medicines systems were well-organised, and people received their prescribed medicines as and when they should. The service was adequately staffed by people whose suitability and fitness to work there had been thoroughly assessed.

Staff had the right levels of training, support and experience to deliver effective care and support to people living in the care home. People had access to a wide variety of food and drink that met their dietary needs and wishes. People were helped to stay healthy and well. 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 lived in a suitably adapted care home that had been decorated and furnished to a very high standard.

People living at the care home and staff working there were all complimentary about the way the relatively new managers ran the service, and how approachable they both were. The provider promoted an open and inclusive culture which sought the views of people living there, their relatives, community-based professionals and staff. The provider worked in close partnership with various community-based health and social care professionals and agencies to plan and deliver people's packages of care and support.

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 14 April 2022) and there was a breach of regulation.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced focused inspection of this service on 14 April 2022. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show us what they would do and by when to improve how staff prevented and managed risks people might face.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective and Well-led, which contain those requirements and issues we discussed with the provider at their last inspection.

We also 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.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

Based on the findings at this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulation. The overall rating for the service has therefore changed from requires improvement to good.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Link House 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. If we receive any concerning information, we may inspect sooner.