Archived: Priory Mews Care Home

Updated 27 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. 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.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type

Priory Mews 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 service 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

This inspection was unannounced.

We visited the location on 26 November and 1 December 2020.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection including submitted action plans. We received feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The local authority had concerns about staffing levels. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. 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 used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 13 members of staff including the registered manager, deputy manager, area director, clinical services manager, unit manager, two nurses, three care workers, one wellbeing coordinator, one housekeeper and the maintenance manager.

We looked at ten peoples’ risk assessments, care plans and care records. We also reviewed feedback from people living in the service and that of their relatives. We reviewed staff feedback. We looked at records relating to the management of medicines, health and safety, infection control and key policies and procedures. We reviewed four staff files in relation to recruitment and supervision. We reviewed the rotas for five communities and staff training records.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data, quality assurance records, infection control audits and resident and family feedback. We spoke with two more care staff and three more relatives who gave us their views of the service.

Updated 27 January 2021

About the service

Priory Mews Care Home is registered to provide support to up to 156 people. At the time of the inspection there were 103 people living in the service. Priory Mews is arranged across five separate buildings, called communities. Cressenor has capacity for 42 people and provides residential care for people living with dementia. Mountenay and Marchall have capacity for 30 and 23 people respectively and provide nursing care for people living with dementia. Beaumont and Berkeley have capacity for 30 and 15 people respectively and provide nursing care for older people. A separate building houses the management and administration offices, kitchen, reception and training facilities.

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

People told us they felt safe in the service. One relative said, “Yes I feel she is very safe; her hand is the main concern at the moment, they are dealing with that well and they are keeping me updated with the progress”. People were safeguarded from the risk of abuse and received safe care and treatment. There were enough staff to meet peoples’ needs. Medicines were managed in line with national guidance. Lessons were learned when things went wrong.

People and their relatives were involved in decisions about their care and they received care which promoted their dignity and independence. One relative said, “They always ring me, with his medication I am always consulted”.

Quality assurance processes were in place to monitor the service. The managers promoted an open-door policy and staff told us that they felt listened to and were confident that action would be taken if they raised concerns.

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.

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 30 April 2020) and there were three 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 carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection on this service on 25 and 26 February 2020. Breaches of regulation 10, 12 and 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. 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, Caring and Well-led which contain those requirements.

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 coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

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

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.