About the service The Dell is a care home providing accommodation for up to 40 older people, including people living with dementia. At the time of the inspection there were 33 people living at the home. The Dell also had eight rooms which provided short-term, intermediate care placements for people discharged from hospital but not yet ready to return home.
People's experience of using this service and what we found
People told us they felt safe and were happy living at The Dell. One person said, “This is my home and I am very lucky to have great people caring for me.” We observed a kind and caring culture. We observed positive interactions between people and staff throughout the inspection.
People and their relatives told us there were enough staff. Our observations confirmed the service had enough staff to meet people's needs. During the inspection we observed people supported in a timely manner and staff did not look rushed. Staff told us there were enough staff to meet people's needs.
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.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the provider had ensured that appropriate infection control procedures were in place to keep people safe. This included increased cleaning and ensuring adequate supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) were available.
People's care plans were personalised and gave staff the information they needed to support people. We saw people were supported with their communication needs and their preferred activities in accordance with their care plans.
The new provider and registered manager had worked hard to develop strong leadership. Quality monitoring systems had been embedded and morale was good amongst the staff team. We spoke at length with the management of the service about their ongoing plans for The Dell.
We have made a recommendation about introducing audits at provider level to provide greater oversight.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good, published on 25 March 2019.
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
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. This included checking the provider was meeting COVID-19 vaccination requirements.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.