Updated 23 January 2021
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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
As part of this inspection we looked at the infection, prevention and control 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 carried out by two inspectors.
Service and service type:
The Cedars 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.
The Cedars had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection:
We gave the service ten minutes notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to know of the COVID-19 status in the home and discuss the infection, prevention and control measures in place.
What we did:
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority, professionals who work with the service and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. The provider was requested to complete a provider information return (PIR). 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 took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
During the inspection
We spoke with five people who used the service, to ask about their experience of the care provided and one visiting family member. We observed staff providing support to people in the communal areas of the service. This was so we could understand people's experiences. By observing the care received, we could determine whether they were comfortable with the support they were provided with.
We spoke with nine members of staff, which included the registered manager, deputy manager and team leaders. We reviewed a range of records about people's care and how the service was managed. This included looking at five people's care records and a sample of people's medicines administration records. We reviewed records of meetings, staff rotas and staff training records. We also reviewed the records of accidents, incidents, complaints and quality assurance audits the management team had completed.