Romney House

Updated 9 April 2022

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 the COVID-19 pandemic we are looking at how services manage infection control and visiting arrangements. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection prevention and control measures the provider had in place. We also asked the provider about any staffing pressures the service was experiencing and whether this was having an impact on the service.

This inspection took place on 3 February 2022 and was announced. We gave the service one days’ notice of the inspection.

Updated 9 April 2022

About the service

Romney House is a small independent residential care home for older people. The service can support up to 20 people and at the time of our inspection 18 people were living at the home.

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

At our last comprehensive inspection in February 2019, we found one breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. We wrote to the provider to ask them what action they would take to make the necessary improvements to meet the legal requirements. The provider sent us an action plan stating what action they were taking and by what date the action would be completed.

At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the service was no longer in breach of the Regulations.

Previously developed new systems, processes and procedures required time to bed in. At this inspection we found these had been sustained and improved upon.

The feedback we received from people’s relatives was positive and very complimentary. They told us their family members were well cared for, happy, settled and safe. Their family member received kind, dignified and caring support from a team of committed staff. Romney House was described as being friendly, homely and like a big family.

We were assured that this service met good infection, prevention and control guidelines. Relatives were very reassured about infection control procedures and confirmed the appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE). No residents had been affected with COVID-19.

People’s needs were thoroughly assessed, and person-centred care plans developed. These had been reviewed and updated regularly. The service worked closely with local health and social care professionals to provide appropriate access to treatment and support.

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 service was well led by a dedicated management team who provided good support for staff to do their job effectively.

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 10 April 2019) and there was one breach 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 and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 21 and 25 February 2019. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve Regulation 11, Need for consent.

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.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings 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 Romney House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.