Penny Pot Care Home

Updated 6 April 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 is 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.

This inspection took place on 7 February 2018 and was unannounced, and was completed by two inspectors. We reviewed the information we held about the service including safeguarding alerts and statutory notifications, which related to the service. A notification is information about important events, which the provider is required to send us by law.

During the inspection, we spoke with six people using the service and two care staff, the senior, the manager, and the activities coordinator. We also spoke with four relatives and one visiting healthcare professional. We observed people taking part in activities, having lunch and throughout the day. We observed medicines being administered.

We reviewed four people’s care records, medication administration records (MAR) and a selection of documents about how the service was managed. These included, staff recruitment files, induction, and training schedules and training plan.

We also looked at the service’s arrangements for the management of medicines, complaints and compliments information, safeguarding alerts and quality monitoring and audit information.

For a more comprehensive report regarding this service, please refer to the report of our last visit, which was published on 23 July 2015.

Updated 6 April 2018

Penny Pot is a ‘care home’. People in care homes received accommodation and nursing or personal cars 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. Penny Pot accommodates up to 38 people in one adapted building. At the time of our inspection there were 37 people living in the home.

At the last inspection, the service was rated good. At this inspection, we found the service remained good.

A new manager in post was in the process of being registered by the commission. In the interim, the provider on a day-to-day basis supported them.

People were safe because staff supported them to understand how to keep safe and staff knew how to manage risk effectively. There were sufficient numbers of care staff on shift with the correct skills and knowledge to keep people safe.

Medicines were generally managed safely, but we did observe some unsafe practice on the day of inspection. Environmental risk assessments were in place but actions taken needed to be highlighted on audit forms to ensure clear oversight.

The Care Quality Commission is required by law to monitor how a provider applies the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and to report on what we find. DoLS are in place to protect people where they do not have capacity to make decisions and where it is considered necessary to restrict their freedom in some way. Management and staff understood their responsibility in this area. Staff were committed to ensuring all decisions were made in people’s best interest.

Staff had good relationships with people who used the service and were attentive to their needs. People’s privacy and dignity was respected at all times. People and their relatives were involved in making decisions about their care and support.

Care plans were individual and contained information about how people preferred to communicate and their ability to make decisions.

People were encouraged to take part in activities that they enjoyed, and were supported to keep in contact with family members. When needed, they were supported to see health professionals and referrals were put through to ensure they had the appropriate care and treatment.

Relatives and staff were complimentary about the management of the service. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities in providing safe and good quality care to the people who used the service.