Archived: Carham Hall

Updated 20 April 2016

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.

We undertook an unannounced focused inspection of Carham Hall Care Home on 24 March 2016. This inspection was carried out to check that improvements to meet legal requirements planned by the provider following our inspection on 29 and 30 July 2015 had been made. The inspector inspected the service against one of the five questions we ask about services: is the service well led? This is because the service was not meeting some legal requirements. The inspection team consisted of one inspector.

We spoke with the provider, deputy manager, three staff members, and six people using the service. The manager was absent on the day of the inspection. We also spoke with the local authority safeguarding and contracts officers who told us there had been no safeguarding investigations or substantiated complaints made about the service. We spoke with a reviewing officer a district nurse, and two relatives.

Updated 20 April 2016

Carham Hall provides accommodation, personal care and support for up to 22 older people, some of whom are living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 17 people living at the service.

We carried out an unannounced focused inspection of Carham Hall Care Home on 24 March 2016. At the last inspection on 29 and 30 July 2015 we asked the provider to take action to make improvements to governance arrangements and this action has been completed.

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

People and a relative told us they were happy with the way the service was managed. Two people told us they felt a bit cold and we told the provider who arranged for the heating to be turned up immediately and said they would monitor the temperature in the service.

Systems were in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service. Audits in key areas such as medicines management, infection control, health and safety, and care plans had been carried out.

CQC had been notified of incidents in line with legal requirements.

Staff told us they felt well supported and that the provider, manager and deputy were visible, accessible and approachable. A reviewing officer told us that they had no significant concerns about the service and found that when any minor concerns were raised with the provider and manager that these were acted upon. A District Nurse told us they had no concerns about the service and that when they asked for things to be done that they were carried out. People told us that they felt the service was well run.

Regular meetings were held and surveys were provided to people using the service, relatives, staff, and other stakeholders, to obtain their views about the service. The views of people in the surveys we read had been acted upon.

The service had accessed and was involved with a quality improvement initiative designed to improve the quality of the experience of people living with dementia in the service.

The service maintained links with the local community and supported people to participate in traditional local celebrations.