Agincourt Care Home

Updated 25 June 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 Care Act 2014.

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 carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type

Agincourt Care Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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. 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 looked at all the information we have received from, and about, this service since the last inspection. We had not requested a provider information return with time for completion prior to our inspection. 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. We were able to gather this information during our inspection. We also gathered information from the local authority’s quality monitoring team and a health care professional before we visited. We used this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During the inspection we spoke with three people who lived at the home, eight members of staff, the registered manager and a representative from the provider organisation. Throughout the visits we were able to observe staff interactions with people in the communal areas we also 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 spoke with a visiting relative and received further feedback from four relatives with loved ones living in the home about their experience of the care provided.

We looked at a selection of records which included;

Records related to the care and support of seven people. This included Medication Administration Records (MARs.)

Quality assurance documents

Communication with families

Training records

Updated 25 June 2022

About the service

Agincourt Care Home is a care home which is registered to provide care and accommodation to up to 31 people. The home specialises in the care of people over 50 years old with dementia and mental health care needs. At the time of the inspection there were 28 people living at the home. The house is an adapted residential building with accommodation arranged over two floors.

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

We found further improvements had been made in the quality of care people received against the backdrop of continued challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.

People were supported by staff who understood the risks they faced. Risks were safely managed and monitored. Staff had access to people’s risk assessments and care plans and were confident they knew how to reduce these risks. People received care and support from staff who knew them well and treated them with respect, compassion and dignity.

There were sufficient numbers of staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. The registered manager kept deployment under review as people’s needs changed.

People were supported to have choice and control of their lives and, where best interests decisions had been made, staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Action was taken by the registered manager during our inspection to ensure staff fully understood when to involve people's legal representatives.

We were assured by infection prevention and control (IPC) measures in the home. Practices that protected people from cross infection of communicable illness were well embedded amongst the staff team.

There were ongoing maintenance works, and furniture replacement, scheduled to maintain and improve the environment.

Relatives spoke highly of their communication with the registered manager and staff team.

People were cared for by staff who cared about and supported their colleagues. Staff felt part of a strong team with a shared purpose. Staff felt supported by the senior team.

People lived in a home where oversight such as audits, monitoring and observation were used to improve the quality and safety of people’s care.

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 requires improvement (published July 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 enough improvement had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced inspection of this service in May 2021 breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do, and by when, to improve dignity and respect and good governance.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective, Caring and Well-led which contain those requirements and identified other shortfalls in provision.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

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.

Follow up

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