The inspection was unannounced and took place on 14 and 15 February 2017.Inglewood Residential Care Home is a three-storey Victorian building located in Disley near Manchester. The home provides care and accommodation for up to twenty two people. The building is situated in its own grounds and has a purpose built extension with a conservatory. Accommodation is situated on the lower ground floor, ground floor and first floor. Most of the rooms have an en-suite toilet and sink and there are two bathrooms with a shower and bath. Access between floors is via a passenger lift or staircase.
The service was last inspected in December 2015. At our last inspection, we found the provider to be in breach of four regulations. They were not meeting the required standards in relation to safeguarding people, training, consent and assessing and monitoring the quality of care. At this inspection we found that the provider was meeting all the regulations and had made significant improvements to the service.
The home has a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. At the time of our inspection there were 20 people living in the home.
We found that people were provided with care that was safe, person centred, sensitive and compassionate. Inglewood is a family run business. The registered manager had worked and owned the home for over 20 years and many of the staff had worked at the home for a number of years, therefore people living in the home received care from a consistent, knowledgeable staff team.
We saw that the service was now following safeguarding procedures and accurately recording and reporting where issues had arisen. All the staff we spoke to confirmed that they were aware of the need to report any safeguarding concerns.
We saw that the service was now auditing and analysing records in order to pick up any discrepancies for example in medication records to ensure that people were receiving medication safely. They were regularly reviewing risk assessments to ensure that people living in the home were safe and their records reflected the care that they were receiving.
We looked at recruitment files for the most recently appointed staff members to check that effective recruitment procedures had been completed. We found that appropriate checks had been made to ensure that they were suitable to work with vulnerable adults.
We found that there were sufficient staff deployed to meet the needs of the people living in the home. The registered manager told us they did not use agency staff and covered sickness and holidays from the existing staff team.
The provider had their own induction training programme which was designed to ensure that any new staff members had the skills they needed to do their jobs effectively and competently. This resulted in staff having the skills and knowledge to carry out their jobs well and provide safe and effective care.
We asked staff members about training and they all confirmed that they received regular training throughout the year and that this was up to date and provided them with knowledge and skills to do their jobs effectively.
There was a flexible menu in place which provided a good variety of food to people using the service. People living there told us that the food was good and their preferences were accommodated.
The service had a range of policies and procedures which helped staff refer to good practice and included guidance on the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. This meant that staff were able to help and support people who had difficulty in making decisions and ensured that plans were put in place in the person’s best interests. We saw that applications had been made appropriately. The provider had identified that some of the paperwork could be clearer to record consent and best interest decisions and had started to implement this.
People had care plans which were personalised to their needs and wishes. Each care plan contained detailed information to assist staff to provide care in a manner that respected the relevant person’s individual needs, promoting their personal preferences’.
People living in the home told us that the standard of care they received was good. Comments included, “The staff are kind” and “They are very, very kind and the care is very good”. Relatives spoken with praised the staff team for the quality of care provided. They told us that they were confident that their relatives were safe and well cared for. One person told us, “They are wonderful the carers, she is very lucky being here”.
Staff members we spoke with were positive about how the home was being managed and felt that the managers were supportive and approachable.
There was now a comprehensive internal quality assurance system in place to review systems and help to ensure compliance with the regulations and to promote the welfare of the people who lived at the home. This included audits on care plans, medication and accidents. The management team were proactively questioning practice and seeking out advice on a regular basis as to how the service could be improved.
The home was well-maintained and clean and provided a calm, relaxing atmosphere. There were a number of maintenance checks being carried out weekly and monthly. These included water temperatures as well as safety checks on the fire alarm system and emergency lighting. These were audited regularly.