Archived: The Abbey

Updated 13 February 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 checked 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 December 2017 and was unannounced. The inspection team consisted of two adult social care inspectors and an 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 had experience of caring for older people and dementia care.

Before we carried out our inspection we looked at information we held about the service. This included the statutory notifications we had received from the provider. Statutory notifications are changes, events or incidents the provider is legally obliged to send CQC within required timescales.

During our inspection we spoke with four people who lived in the home and four staff including the cook. We also spoke with the registered manager and one of the provider’s operations managers. We observed interactions between the staff and people living in the home.

We looked at care and medication records for five people and the personnel records for four staff. We also looked at records around the maintenance and servicing of equipment, fire safety records and quality monitoring documents.

Updated 13 February 2018

This comprehensive inspection took place on 6 December 2017 and was unannounced. At our last inspection the home was rated overall as requiring improvement and we made three recommendations to the provider. At this inspection we found that the provider had acted on those recommendations and we found the service was meeting the fundamental standards of quality and safety.

The Abbey is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. The Abbey is registered to provide accommodation and care for up to 28 older people. On the day of this inspection there were 10 people living in the home. The home is situated in the centre of the village of Staveley near to the town of Kendal and has been modernised and adapted for its purpose. There is a passenger lift to assist residents to access the first floor of the home. However at the time of the inspection the lift had been under repair and all of the people were residing on the ground floor. There are four separate units within the home each with bedrooms, lounges and different dining areas. One of the units specialises in providing care to people living with dementia.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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.

Medicines were being administered and recorded appropriately and were being kept safely.

During the inspection we saw there were sufficient numbers of suitable staff to meet people’s needs. Staff had completed a variety of training that enabled them to improve their knowledge in order to deliver care and treatment safely.

Where safeguarding concerns or incidents had occurred these had been reported by the registered manager to the appropriate authorities and we could see records of the actions that had been taken by the home to protect people.

When employing fit and proper persons the recruitment procedures had included all of the required checks of suitability.

People’s rights were protected. The registered manager was knowledgeable about their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People were only deprived of their liberty if this had been authorised by the appropriate body or where applications had been made to do so.

People were supported to maintain good health and appropriate referrals to other healthcare professionals had been made.

There was a clear management structure in place and staff were happy with the level of support they received.

People living in the home were supported to access activities that were made available to them and pastimes of their choice.

Auditing and quality monitoring systems were in place that allowed the service to demonstrate effectively the safety and quality of the home.

We observed staff displayed caring and meaningful interactions with people and people were treated with respect. We observed people’s dignity and privacy were actively promoted by the staff supporting them.

People living in the home spoke highly of the staff and told us they were very happy with their care and support.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.