Cecil Court

Updated 23 March 2023

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

This inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

Cecil Court 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.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

Inspection activity started on 6 February and ended on 2 March 2023. The inspection visit took place on 8 and 9 February 2023 and were unannounced on the first day.

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 health professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke in person with the registered manager. We spoke with 6 people using the service, 5 relatives, 8 staff and 4 health professionals to get their experience and views about the care provided. We reviewed a range of records. They included 5 people’s care plans and risk records. We looked at 7 staff files in relation to recruitment, training and supervision. We checked a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including staff rotas, audits, quality assurance, policies and procedures.

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.

Updated 23 March 2023

About the service

Cecil Court is a care home that provides accomodation and personal care for up to 45 older people in one adapted building. At the time of our inspection there were 43 people using the service including those living with dementia.

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

At the previous inspection Cecil Court had participated in the 'My Life' project that researched the effectiveness of individual biographical reminiscence films for people with dementia. We saw first-hand the positive effect these film biographies had in greatly enriching people's quality of life and reducing their anxiety. This has now been further developed by the home participating in the development of a ‘My Life’ TV channel that provides people with dementia and others with access to topics identified as of interest to them, whenever they wish.

The home was excellently led and managed in a positive, open, and transparent way and had an inclusive culture. The provider’s vision and values were clearly set out and staff understood and followed them. Areas of responsibility and accountability for staff and management were clearly defined, and an outstanding service was provided that was regularly reviewed. There were thorough audits conducted, and records kept up to date. Whenever opportunities arose, community links and working partnerships were established and maintained to minimise people’s social isolation. The provider met Care Quality Commission (CQC) registration requirements. Healthcare professionals said that the service was very well managed and met people’s needs in a professional, open, caring and friendly manner.

We were told by people using the service, their relatives and staff that Cecil Court was a safe place to live and for staff to work. Any risks to people were regularly assessed, reviewed and minimised meaning they were able to take acceptable risks, and enjoy their lives in a safe way. Safeguarding concerns, accidents, and incidents were reported, investigated and recorded. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs and support them appropriately. Staff were suitably recruited and trained including how to safely administer medicines. The home used Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) safely, effectively and the infection prevention and control policy was up to date.

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.

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 14 June 2018). The overall rating for the service remains good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this 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.

We did not inspect the key questions of effective, caring and responsive.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

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

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.