Priors Piece

Updated 18 March 2022

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.

As part of CQC’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic we are looking at how services manage infection control and visiting arrangements. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection prevention and control measures the provider had in place. We also asked the provider about any staffing pressures the service was experiencing and whether this was having an impact on the service.

This inspection took place on 28th February and was unannounced.

Updated 18 March 2022

This unannounced inspection took place on 12 November 2018. Priors Piece is a small care home that provides accommodation, personal care and support to a maximum of four people who are experiencing severe and enduring mental health conditions.

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, both were looked at during this inspection. At the time of the inspection there were four people living at the home. Priors Piece belongs to a group of homes owned by The Community of St Antony and St Elias. The homes act as a community with group activities and group management meetings and oversight.

At our last inspection in March 2016 we rated Priors Piece overall as good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the home has not changed since our last inspection.

The home had a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the home. 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 home is run.

People told us they were well cared for and said they felt safe living at the home. The registered manager and staff were aware of how to keep people safe. Staff had received safeguarding training and could describe signs that may indicate someone was at risk of abuse or harm.

Risks had been appropriately assessed and staff had been provided with information on how to support people safely. People’s medicines were managed, stored and administered safely and appropriately, by staff who had been trained and assessed as competent, to do so.

Staff were recruited safely and there were sufficient numbers of staff deployed to meet people's needs. Staff told us they felt supported and we saw evidence staff had received induction, training and ongoing supervision.

People's healthcare needs were monitored by staff and people said they had access to

healthcare professionals according to their individual needs. 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 home supported this practice.

The home remained responsive to people's individual needs. Care and support was personalised to each person which ensured they could make choices about their day to day lives. People knew how to make a complaint and felt confident they would be listened to if they needed to raise

concerns.

People benefitted from a home that was well led by a manager who was open and approachable. The provider had systems in place to review, monitor and improve the quality of service provided. This included a programme of audits and checks, reviewing medicines management, quality of care records, support to staff and environmental health and safety checks.

The home was clean, maintained and people were protected from the risk and/or spread of infection as staff had access to personal protective equipment (PPE).

Further information is in the detailed findings below.