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Archived: St William's Care Home

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Cornwall Avenue, Darlington, County Durham, DL1 2LJ (01325) 778679

Provided and run by:
Bupa Care Homes (GL) Limited

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 27 March 2015

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 6 January 2015 and was unannounced. This meant the staff and provider did not know we would be visiting. One Adult Social Care inspector took part in this inspection.

Before we visited the home we checked the information we held about this location and the service provider, for example, inspection history, safeguarding notifications and complaints. No concerns had been raised. We also contacted professionals involved in caring for people who used the service, including commissioners and safeguarding staff. No concerns were raised by any of these professionals.

For this inspection, the provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During our inspection we spoke with four people who used the service and two family members. We also spoke with the registered manager and three care workers.

We looked at the personal care or treatment records of three people who used the service and observed how people were being cared for. We also looked at the personnel files for three members of staff.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 27 March 2015

This inspection took place on 6 January 2015 and was unannounced. This meant the staff and provider did not know we would be visiting.

St William’s Residential Home provides care and accommodation for up to 21 people, including people living with dementia. On the day of our inspection there were 10 people using the service.

The home had a registered manager in place. 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.

St William’s Residential Home was last inspected by CQC on 29 November 2013 and was compliant.

There were sufficient numbers of staff on duty in order to meet the needs of people using the service. The provider had an effective recruitment and selection procedure in place and carried out relevant checks when they employed staff.

We saw evidence that thorough investigations had been carried out in response to safeguarding incidents or allegations and comprehensive medication audits were carried out regularly by the registered manager.

Staff training was up to date and staff received regular supervisions and appraisals, which meant that staff were properly supported to provide care to people who used the service.

All of the care records we looked at contained consent forms, which were signed by the people who used the service or their representatives.

CQC monitors the operation of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) which applies to care homes. The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) are part of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. They aim to make sure that people in care homes, hospitals and supported living are looked after in a way that does not inappropriately restrict their freedom. We discussed DoLS with the manager and looked at records. We found the provider was following the requirements in the DoLS.

People who used the service, and family members, were complimentary about the standard of care at St William’s Residential Home. They told us, “It’s a good home”, “The staff are wonderful” and “He’s well looked after”.

Staff treated people with dignity and respect and people were encouraged to care for themselves where possible.

We saw that the home had a full programme of activities in place for people who used the service.

All the care records we looked at showed people’s needs were assessed before they moved into the home and we saw care plans were written in a person centred way.

We saw a copy of the provider’s complaints policy and procedure and saw that complaints were fully investigated.

The provider had a robust quality assurance system in place and gathered information about the quality of their service from a variety of sources.