Riverhead Hall Residential Care Home

Updated 25 November 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was completed by one inspector.

Service and service type

Riverhead Hall Residential Care Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Riverhead Hall Residential Care Home is a care home without nursing care. 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

This inspection was unannounced.

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

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager, deputy manager, team leaders and care workers. We spoke with 6 people who used the service about their experience of the care provided and 5 relatives. We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people's care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed. 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.

Following the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider and registered manager to validate evidence found. The registered manager sent us further information which included a variety of records relating to the management of the service including staff training records, policies and procedures.

Updated 25 November 2022

About the service

Riverhead Hall Residential Care Home is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to a maximum of 48 people. At the time of our inspection there were 39 people using the service.

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

People were happy and felt safe at the service. Staff understood their roles clearly and knew what was expected of them. Risks to people were assessed and reviewed on a regular basis. Staff were recruited safely and understood the principles of keeping people safe.

Medicines were appropriately managed and regular checks were completed to ensure that the management of medicines was safe. Staff promoted good infection control practices and the service was 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.

The registered manager and staff had a strong ethos of person-centred care and placed people's wellbeing at the heart of their work. Systems in place to monitor the quality of the service supported the management team to make improvements when needed. Lessons learnt were used as learning opportunities to continuously develop the service.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 8 October 2021) and there were 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.

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to visiting at the service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall 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.

The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Riverhead Hall Residential Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Recommendations

We have made a recommendation regarding the systems in place for recording information at the service.

Following the last inspection, we recognised that the provider had failed to notify CQC of events. This was a breach of regulation and we issued a fixed penalty notice. The provider accepted a fixed penalty and paid this in full.

Follow up

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