St Pauls Care Centre

Updated 8 May 2020

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.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two 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.

Service and service type

St Pauls 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 reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During the inspection

We spoke with eight people who used the service and eight relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with twelve members of staff including the provider, registered manager, deputy manager, nurses, unit managers, care workers and the activity coordinator. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We reviewed a range of records. This included six people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We spoke with two professionals who regularly visit the service and we received feedback from more relatives. Also, two relatives and a health professional contacted us to give feedback about the service.

Updated 8 May 2020

About the service

St Pauls Care Centre is a nursing home providing personal and nursing care to 85 people at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 88 people.

St Pauls Care Centre is a purpose-built care home offering people accommodation over four floors. The bedrooms are generous in size and there are several communal areas and dining facilities for people to use. People can also spend time outside in the garden.

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

People, relatives and health professionals were extremely positive about how responsive staff were to people’s needs. They told us the care people received was personalised to their individual needs and this had a positive impact on people’s health and well-being.

People were happy and involved in the home’s day to day life. People told us they were supported to continue to live their life; pursuing their hobbies and interest. Staff enabled people to accomplish their wishes and this increased people’s self-esteem and their motivation to improve their physical and psychological well-being.

Staff used computer devices and other aids to help people communicate and interact with each other and their family members. There was a collective effort from staff to ensure each person living in the home felt important, included and the care they received was meeting their needs holistically.

People, relatives and staff were regularly asked to provide feedback about the service. The provider had regular meetings people and staff committees to ensure they could address any issues raised.

The provider worked together with other providers of similar service types to discuss and influence current best practice. Everyone we spoke with praised the management team of the home for being kind and working together for the people to receive care and support that met their individual needs and preferences.

The provider was responsive to the needs of the community by developing and offering services needed, for example, for people with an acquired brain injury. Health and social care professionals were extremely positive about the care and support people received and praised the leadership in the home.

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

People told us they felt safe and well supported by staff who knew them well. Staff were trained and skilled to meet people’s health needs. They knew how to recognise possible signs of abuse and report concerns to their managers or external safeguarding authorities.

People’s medicines were administered safely by staff who were trained and had their competency checked. Infection control procedures were followed by staff when cleaning and when offering personal care to people.

There were enough staff, employed through robust procedures, to meet people’s needs in a timely way. When things went wrong staff completed a root cause analysis of the incident to ensure that any actions needed to improve the service could identified and implemented.

People praised staff for their kind, caring and respectful attitude. People’s likes, dislikes and cultural preferences were known and respected by staff and management in the home. Staff met and catered for people’s diverse dietary needs. When there was a need for it, health professionals like dieticians were involved to help people achieve a good nutrition.

The registered manager and the provider completed a range of regular audits to ensure they were assessing the quality and safety of the service provided. Where actions were needed to improve the service, these were completed in a timely way.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 19 August 2017). Since this rating was awarded the provider has altered its legal entity. We have used the previous rating to inform our planning and decisions about the rating at this inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.