Regent Residential Care Home

Updated 14 February 2018

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, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This was a comprehensive, unannounced inspection which took place on 14 December 2017. We also undertook an announced visit to the home on 18 December 2017, to complete our inspection. The inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

As part of the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service and looked at the notifications they had sent us. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We requested information about the home from the Healthwatch and the local authority. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion, which promotes the views and experiences of people who use health and social care. The local authority has responsibility for funding people who used the service and monitoring its safety and quality.

The provider had sent us a Provider Information Return before the inspection. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During our inspection we spent time with people in the communal areas of the home and saw how staff supported the people they cared for. We spoke with five people who lived at the home. 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 also spoke with five people’s relatives as part of the inspection to gain their views on the care provided to their family members.

We talked with the registered manager of the home and the provider’s representative. We talked with eight care staff members, two laundry staff members and an administrative staff member, along with the deputy manager.

We checked a range of documents and written records. These included five people's care records, details of actions staff took to help to monitor and promote peoples safety and documents showing us how people’s medicines were managed. We saw records which showed us how people’s rights were promoted, how the staff responded to any complaints made and how staff were encouraged to raise any concerns they had for people’s well-being. Staff training records, minutes of staff meetings and staff surveys and three staff recruitment files were also checked.

We also looked at information about how the provider and registered manager monitored the quality of the care provided and the actions they took to develop the service further. This included checks on the environment people lived in, if people’s care needs were met and minutes of relatives’ and residents’ meetings.

Updated 14 February 2018

This inspection site visit took place on 14 December 2017 and was unannounced. We announced we would return to complete our inspection on 18 December 2017.

Regent Residential Care Home 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.

Regent Residential Care Home accommodates up to 64 people in one adapted building, with areas for people to spend time together or more privately as they choose. Accommodation and care is provided to older people, including those living with dementia. There were 62 people living at the home at the time of our inspection.

At the last inspection, the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

We found people living at the home were supported to remain safe. Staff understood people’s individual risks and knew what actions to take if they had any concerns around people’s safety. Staff took action to reassure people when needed and ensured people had the equipment they needed to remain as independent and well as possible. There were enough staff to care for people in the ways they preferred and to spend time with them so they did not become isolated. People received regular support from competent staff to have the medicines they needed to remain well and pain free.

People benefited from living in a home where there were systems in place to reduce the risk of infections and to manage their safety. This included checks on the environment they lived in, and processes for identifying if there was any learning after safety incidents.

Staff assessed people’s care needs and involved people who knew them prior to people moving into the home. By doing this, staff could be sure they could meet people’s needs. People received care from staff with the experience and skills to meet their needs. People were supported to choose what they wanted to eat and to obtain support from other health and social care professionals so they would remain well. 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 service supported this practice.

People had built strong and trusting relationships with the staff that cared for them, and enjoyed spending time with staff. Staff took communicated with people in the ways they preferred and people had access to written information in different styles to meet their needs. People were encouraged to make their own day to day choices about their care, with support from staff when they wanted this. Staff provided care in ways which promoted people’s right to independence and dignity and took action to support their right to privacy.

People’s care had been planned by taking their individual wishes, histories and needs into account. Staff communicated information regularly with other staff and relatives, so people’s care would be varied to meet their changing needs. People and their relatives knew how to raise any concerns or complaints they may have and were confident these would be addressed. Staff knew how to support people if they wished to raise any concerns or complaints.

People and their relatives were complimentary about the way the home was managed and found senior staff to be approachable. The registered manager had supported staff so they understand how they were to care for people, so people would enjoy life at the home. The provider and the registered manager checked on the quality of the care provided to people, so they would be assured people enjoyed a good quality of life. The registered manager listened to the views of relatives and staff when developing people’s care and the home further. This included refurbishment of areas of the home and adaptation of the gardens to meet people’s sensory needs. Senior staff had built effective working relationships with other organisations so people would benefit from care based on specialist advice.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.