Acton Care Centre

Updated 10 February 2021

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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place.

Inspection team

The inspection was conducted by two inspectors, a nurse specialist advisor and a member of the CQC medicines inspection team. An Expert by Experience carried out phone calls to relatives to ask for their feedback about the service. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Acton Care Centre is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care 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.

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

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We looked at all the information we held about the provider. This included notifications of significant events and safeguarding information. We contacted representatives of the London Borough of Ealing who had raised concerns about the service.

During the inspection

We spoke with two people who used the service. We also observed how people were being cared for and supported. We were not able to spend as much time observing care as we normally do, and we were not able to speak with as many people as we would have liked. This was because some people were isolating in their rooms, and some units in the home had restricted access due to the COVID-19.

We spoke with staff on duty, who included six care workers, four nurses, the activities coordinator, the clinical lead, the business manager and the registered manager. We also met the regional director who was visiting the home on the day of the inspection. We met one visiting healthcare professional.

We looked at the care plans, and associated records for eight people. We also looked at additional medicines records for 10 others and looked at how medicines were being managed. We conducted a partial tour of the building, looking specifically at how infection prevention and control was being managed.

We looked at other records used by the provider for managing the service. These included audits, meeting minutes, policies and procedures, records of complaints, accidents and safeguarding alerts and the recruitment files for eight members of staff.

After the inspection

We received feedback from two external health care and three external social care professionals who worked with the service. We spoke with the relatives of 11 people who used the service over the phone. The registered manager sent us some additional information which we reviewed.

Updated 10 February 2021

About the service

Acton Care Centre is a care home with nursing for up to 125 people. There were 95 people living at the home at the time of our inspection. The majority of people were older adults. The home is divided into five units. Some units specialised in the care of people living with the experience of dementia, some were for people with complex health conditions and some were for people being cared for at the end of their lives.

The service is managed by Gold Care Homes Group, an organisation with 22 care homes within the UK.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People were well supported and cared for. People and their relatives felt safe and trusted the staff. Their care was personalised and met their individual needs and preferences. They had good relationships with the staff, who knew them well.

There were enough suitable staff, who were trained and supported. They had the information they needed to care for people safely and meet their needs. There were appropriate systems for recruiting staff.

People's care had been planned for. Plans included assessments of their individual needs and any risks they were exposed to. There was clear information to show the staff how to support people. The records of care showed these plans were followed. The staff worked closely with external professionals when providing care and support for people.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, visitors had been restricted and people's normal experience of care had been affected by temporary changes, which included spending more time in their bedrooms or individual units, rather than socialising with others. The staff had tried to compensate for this, by providing individual and small group social activities, and by supporting people to stay in touch with their loved ones.

The provider had effective systems to manage infection prevention and control. These had been updated and changed to reflect the risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff had a good awareness about these and wore personal protective equipment (PPE) to help keep people safe. The provider had worked with the health care professionals to monitor how they were managing the home and also to start a programme of vaccinations to protect people living at the home and staff from COVID-19.

The provider's systems for dealing with complaints, incidents, accidents and safeguarding alerts were suitable. They carried out thorough investigations, worked with others to protect people and learnt from things that went wrong so improvements could be made to the service.

There was an experienced and committed management team, led by the registered manager. They worked alongside staff and knew the service well. Staff felt supported and respected the managers. There were effective systems for monitoring and improving quality at the service, which included a range of audits, regular communication with staff and asking people using the service and their representatives for feedback about their experiences.

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

Rating at last inspection

The rating for this service from the last inspection was good (Published 23 November 2018).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about safeguarding, infection prevention and control and how people's needs were being met. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, responsive and well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

The overall rating for the service has not changed and remains good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns. Please see the safe, responsive and well-led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Acton Care Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.