St Rita's Care Home

St Rita’s Care Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 60 people living with dementia and age-related frailties, 1 person being supported has a learning disability. At the time of the inspection, the service was supporting 55 people.

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

Quality assurance processes did not always identify inconsistencies in relation to care records. Planned care and corresponding records of delivered care were not always documented. Audits did not highlight assessment tools were completed inconsistently. Formal feedback from relatives was not always addressed in a timely way.

People’s health risks were assessed, some assessment tools showed some inconsistencies, however, this did not affect the planned care required. Care plans were written to guide staff on how to meet people’s needs, this included providing safe support with swallowing difficulties and catheter care.

People were cared for by staff who knew them well and were trained to meet their needs. Staff understood their duty to respond to, and report safeguarding concerns. People received their medicines in a person centred and timely way, staff were trained and assessed as competent before administering people’s medicines.

People were protected from infectious diseases by staff who followed the provider’s policy. The service was clean and adapted to suit the needs of people. Dementia friendly signage helped people recognise communal spaces and their bedrooms.

People spoke highly of the support they received. People told us there were enough staff to support them, our observations confirmed this. One person told us, “The people are nice, and the food is good. The staff are very nice." People were encouraged to retain their autonomy and staff treated them with respect.

People were supported by staff who were trained and appropriately supervised. Staff completed training relevant to their role and were given opportunities to train further in areas of interest. One staff member said, “[Staff member] allocates training dependant on shifts and within work time so people can have a life and still complete the training.” People told us staff were trained to meet their needs.

People were engaged and stimulated. Activity workers planned events around people’s wishes. One person told us, “There is something every day, card making, bingo. It is well organised.” People and their relatives told us they knew how to complain and felt comfortable to so do if necessary. Care was person-centred and people were involved in their care planning.

People and their relatives gave positive feedback about the running of the service and the registered manager. They told us they were able to approach the registered manager with suggestions and felt listened to. One relative said, “It doesn’t matter what the request, it is always dealt with and the home is spotlessly clean.”

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.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 4 January 2022 and this is the first inspection. The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good, published on 1 May 2018.

Why we inspected

This is the first inspection for this newly registered service.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

Enforcement

We have identified a breach in relation to governance at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.