The Manor House

Updated 4 May 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) 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 Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Information shared with CQC indicated potential concerns about the management of fluids for people at risk from dehydration. This focussed inspection examined those risks.

Inspection team: The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector and one 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. The expert by experience’s area of expertise was older people.

Service and service type: The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection: The inspection took place on 23 and 24 April, the first day was unannounced and the second day was announced.

What we did:

During the inspection we reviewed various records including, fluid records for 13 people, the training matrix, recruitment files for three employees, three care plans, audits and compliments.

We spoke with 12 people who were using the service, three relatives and five staff, including the registered manager, provider and two care staff.

Updated 4 May 2019

About the service: At the time of the inspection The Manor House was a nursing home registered to provide personal and nursing care for up to 25 older people, there were 23 people living in the home. The provider contacted us after the inspection to advise that they would now be providing care to adults over the age of 18 years. An updated Statement of Purpose has been submitted to the Commission as required

People’s experience of using this service: People, staff and relatives spoke positively about the registered manager and told us they felt comfortable to report any concerns. The registered manager was visible in the home and undertook checks throughout each day to ensure the home ran smoothly. Staff, relatives and people were invited to express their views and opinions in different ways and told us that they felt listened to.

There was a positive, person-centred culture and staff worked as a team and with external organisations to ensure people experienced good outcomes.

Staff received safeguarding training and spoke confidently about how to identify potential abuse and actions they would take if abuse was suspected. There were posters and leaflets throughout the service including details about how to whistle blow and where to report safeguarding concerns.

People told us they felt safe and relatives confirmed this. Risks to peoples’ safety were assessed, monitored and actions were taken to ensure risks were managed. The service allocated staff in accordance with peoples’ individual needs and maintained staffing levels in accordance with their staffing dependency tool.

The service managed medicines safely and had processes in place to ensure that people received their medicines when they should.

The registered manager had identified areas for improvement, including the range of activities available for people and areas in the home that required some cosmetic updating, and was working to improve these areas at the time of our inspection.

Rating at last inspection: Good (Published in April 2018)

Why we inspected: This inspection was brought forward due to information of risk and concern; there were concerns that people may not be receiving the correct amount of fluids. We inspected the service against two of the key questions which were, ‘is the service safe?’ and ‘is the service well-led?’. None of the concerns were substantiated.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive. We will inspect in line with our inspection programme or sooner if required.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk