Castlecroft Residential Care Home

Updated 11 May 2018

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 was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.'

The inspection took place on 15 and 23 March 2018 and was unannounced on the first day of inspection. The second day of inspection included phone calls and email conversation with staff members and professionals.

The team consisted of two inspectors and an expert by experience. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

When planning our inspection, we looked at the information we held about the service. This included the Provider Information Return (PIR) and the notifications received from the provider about deaths, safeguarding alerts and accidents/incidents which they are required to send us by law. A PIR is information we require providers to send to us annually to give key information about the service, what the service does well and what improvements they intend to make. We also obtained feedback from the commissioners of people’s care and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent organisation that champions the needs of people that use health and social care services.

During the inspection, we spoke with eight people who lived at the home and five family members. We also spoke with the registered manager, the deputy manager, the regional manager and nine members of staff. This included care staff, senior care staff and the cook. As some people were unable to share their experiences of the care they receive, a Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI) was completed. SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experiences of people who cannot talk to us.

We looked at care records for people to see how their care was planned and delivered. We also looked at Medication Administration Records (MAR) and the medicine management process including the audits for this. We looked at staff recruitment files, training information and records held in relation to quality assurance, accidents and incidents, complaints and safeguarding.

Updated 11 May 2018

This inspection was unannounced and took place on 15 March 2018 and conversations via email and telephone were completed with staff members and relevant professionals on 23 March 2018. At the previous inspection in November 2015, the provider was found to be meeting all of the regulations that we assessed and was rated ‘good’ in four domains and ‘requires improvement’ in the key question ‘is the service well-led’.

Castlecroft Residential Care Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Castlecroft is registered to provide accommodation for up to 64 people. At the time of inspection there were 60 people living at the home. Castlecroft is purpose built and arranged over three floors, the first floor is for people who are more independent. The first and second floors are for people who have greater care needs and many of them were living with dementia.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Systems were in place to monitor the quality of the service. These needed to be more robust in highlighting areas for improvement in relation to risk assessments, care plans and medication. Shortfalls that we identified during inspection had not been highlighted by their systems.

People and their relatives were positive about the care provided at Castlecroft. Our observations confirmed that staff were kind and caring towards people.

People felt safe living at the home and were protected from the risk of abuse. The provider had systems in place to minimise the risk of abuse and staff had a good knowledge and understanding of the signs of abuse and who to report concerns to.

The registered manager had taken action to ensure all staff had received the training they required to meet people’s needs. Staff told us they had completed an induction programme and had regular supervision and meetings and felt well supported.

People and their relatives told us they found the management team approachable.