St Andrews Care Home

Updated 5 February 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 care homes with outbreaks of COVID-19, we are conducting reviews to ensure that the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) practice is safe and that services are compliant with IPC measures. This was a targeted inspection looking at the IPC practices the provider has 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 17 January 2022 and was unannounced.

Updated 5 February 2022

About the service

St Andrews Care Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to 33 people at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 70 people.

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

People felt safe with the care they received, and staff were knowledgeable about when to report concerns to safeguard people. Risk assessments highlighted people's individual needs, and professionals were referred to when staff needed input for people. Where things went wrong, this was shared with staff and lessons were learnt and changes implemented.

Medicines were given to people when they needed them, where discrepancies were identified these were actioned appropriately.

Infection prevention control measures were in place and staff were wearing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).

People felt they were able to express how they wanted to be supported and staff were skilled and knowledgeable about their role. Staff and relatives felt there had been an increase in the use of agency staff over the last year due to COVID-19. However, this had been resolved in the recent weeks. The provider ensured that staff went through a recruitment process and all relevant employment checks were completed.

People were supported with their dietary needs and this was closely monitored by the management. People were supported to make decisions about their preference for end of life care. Care plans reflected peoples wishes and how they would like to be supported and what was important to them at this time.

People and relatives felt staff were kind and people were happy living at St Andrews Care Home. One person said, “I have been well looked after, they are friendly and have a joke with me. When I first came it was like one big happy family.” People had the opportunity to shape the support they received through resident meetings and giving feedback. We observed people being treated with dignity and respect.

There were enough staff to support people at the time of the inspection. The service has recently undergone a change in management, the overall feedback was positive.

The registered manager had systems in place to manage complaints. People and relative said they felt listened to when they raise any concerns.

The registered manager had implemented a lot of changes since the last inspection which had been acknowledged by the staff team. Systems had started to be used in a robust way and there were clear outcomes from the quality assurance systems in place. However, at the time of the inspection the home was working on 50% occupancy. The registered manager understood the need to ensure the quality of care continued as they start to increase the occupancy of the service, and to ensure the systems and culture of the service is sustained.

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 and update

The last rating for this service was inadequate (published 22 February 2021) and there were multiple breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

This service has been in Special Measures since 22 February 2021. During this inspection the provider demonstrated that improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

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.