16 July 2020
During an inspection looking at part of the service
St Mark’s Care Home is a residential nursing home providing personal and nursing care to people living with a dementia, mental health conditions and physical disabilities. It can support up to 39 people in a single, purpose-built building. There were 14 people using the service when we inspected.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
We received mixed feedback on people’s experience of the service. Comments ranged from, “It is most welcoming and friendly” to, “I don’t think they look at or use the care plan.”
Information on people was not always consistently recorded or updated. Medicine records were not always accurately completed. Issues identified at our last inspection had not always been addressed.
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 5 February 2020) and there was a breach of regulations. At this inspection enough improvement had not been made and the provider was still in breach of regulations.
The service was subject to monitoring and support as part of a serious concerns protocol with Stockton-on-Tees local authority. As part of this process, the provider regularly shared an action plan and met with stakeholders (including the Care Quality Commission) to demonstrate the improvements they had been making.
Why we inspected
We undertook this targeted inspection to check whether the Warning Notice we previously served in relation to Regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 had been met. The overall rating for the service has not changed following this targeted inspection and remains requires improvement.
CQC have introduced targeted inspections to follow up on Warning Notices or to check specific concerns. They do not look at an entire key question, only the part of the key question we are specifically concerned about. Targeted inspections do not change the rating from the previous inspection. This is because they do not assess all areas of a key question.
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 have identified a continuing breach of regulations in relation to the accuracy and completeness of care records. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this 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.