Swanholme Court

Updated 27 January 2021

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 coronavirus, we are conducting reviews to ensure that the Infection Prevention and Control practice was safe and the service was compliant with IPC measures. This was a targeted inspection looking at the IPC practices the provider has in place.

This inspection took place on 13 January 2021 and was announced.

Updated 27 January 2021

Swanholme Court is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. The home is registered to provide accommodation and residential care for up to 25 people, including older people and people living with dementia.

We carried out this inspection on 14 December 2017. The inspection was unannounced and there were 22 people living in the home at the time of our inspection.

The home was run by a company who was the registered provider. A registered manager was in post who was available at the time of this inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with CQC to manage the service. Like registered providers (‘the provider’) 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. In this report when we speak both about the company the area manager and the registered manager we sometimes refer to them as being, ‘The registered persons’.

At our last inspection on 5 October 2016 we found that there was a breach of the regulations that had reduced the registered persons' ability to consistently provide people with care that was being well-led. We also said that other improvements needed to be made to ensure that the service was always safe and responsive. We rated each of these parts of the service as ‘requires improvement’. Overall, our assessment of the service was ‘requires improvement’.

Shortly after our inspection visit the registered persons told us that they had made the improvements that were necessary to address each of our concerns. The registered persons told us they had also reviewed the arrangements in place for the way the home was set out and that they had changed the name of the home from Eccleshare Court 40-64 to Swanholme Court. They said these changes were made to help more clearly distinguish the home from another home the registered persons owned which was located next to Swanholme Court. The registered persons also provided us with subsequent monthly updates about how they were addressing and making further improvements to the concerns we had raised at our last inspection.

At the present inspection we found that suitable arrangements had been introduced to ensure that the service was being well-led. The breach of the regulations for well-led had been addressed and resolved and other improvements we had highlighted were needed had been made. As a result people were receiving safe and responsive care which was well-led. Given the progress made we revised our assessment of each of these aspects of the service to ‘good’ and also changed the overall assessment of the service to ‘good’.

Our other findings at the present inspection were as follows:

People’s medicines were managed safely and staff worked closely with local healthcare services to ensure people had access to any specialist support they required. Systems were in place which were used to ensure effective infection prevention and control.

We found there were sufficient care staff available to keep people safe and meet their care and support needs. Staff worked well together in a mutually supportive way and communicated effectively, internally and externally.

People were supported by staff who knew how to recognise abuse and how to respond to concerns. Risks in relation to people’s daily life were assessed and planned for to protect them from harm.

Training and support systems were in place to provide staff with the knowledge and skills they needed in order to care for people in the right way. Staff worked well together and were kind and attentive in their approach.

People were invited to comment on the quality of the services provided and the arrangements for receiving feedback about the way the home was run were effective.

There was evidence of organisational learning from significant incidents and events. Any concerns or complaints received by the registered persons were handled effectively.

The registered persons had processes in place which ensured, when needed, they acted in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). This measure is intended to ensure that people are supported to make decisions for themselves. When this is not possible the Act requires that decisions are taken in people's best interests. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

CQC is required by law to monitor the operation of the MCA and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and to report on what we find. Through our discussions with staff we found they understood the principles of the MCA and demonstrated their awareness of the need to obtain consent before providing care or support to people. DoLS are in place to protect people where they do not have capacity to make decisions and where it is considered necessary to restrict their freedom in some way, usually to protect themselves. At the time of our inspection, two people who lived at the home were subject to a DoLS authorisation and the registered persons informed us they were awaiting the outcome of a further seven applications which had been submitted to the local authority.

People were provided with a range of food and drink which met their individual needs and preferences. The overall physical environment and facilities in the home generally reflected people’s requirements and people were supported to maintain their interests and hobbies through access to a range of activities both in the home and in the wider community.

The registered persons had strengthened and maintained a range of audit and review systems which they used to help monitor and keep improving the quality of the services provided.