Charterhouse Care Home

Updated 16 November 2018

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, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 10 and 11 October 2018 and was unannounced.

The inspection team comprised two inspectors, a specialist advisor who was an experienced nurse, and an expert-by-experience. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed the PIR and other information we had about the service including statutory notifications. Notifications are information about specific events that the service is legally required to send us.

During the inspection we spoke with eight people living at the home, nine relatives and 23 staff members, this included senior staff, and the registered manager. We also spoke with one health professional. We reviewed 25 people’s care and support records and four staff files. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service such as incident and accident records, meeting minutes, recruitment and training records, policies, audits and complaints.

Updated 16 November 2018

The inspection took place on 10 and 11 October 2018 and was unannounced. It was our first inspection of this service since it was registered on 20 October 2017.

Since Charterhouse had opened a year ago there had been three different managers. The current interim registered manager told us this had had an impact on the running of the service in respect of implementation and development of the care model. A new manager had now been recruited and was on induction and had begun the process of applying to be registered.

Charterhouse 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.

Charterhouse accommodates up to 77 people across three separate units, each of which have separate adapted facilities. One of the units specialises in providing care to people needing re-ablement care to return home. At the time of our inspection there were 44 people living at the service.

The service is situated in a development called The Chocolate Quarter which is a complex of retirement apartments and offers people care in their own homes. The complex has a cinema, swimming pool, spa and restaurant. These are accessible to the community as well as people living in The Chocolate Quarter.

People and their relatives were very positive about the service. People told us they felt safe, well cared for and had good relationships with the staff. Relatives were complimentary about the quality of the service and the environment.

Staff were skilled, well-trained and treated people with kindness and compassion.Staff knew people well, their likes and dislikes and how to comfort them if they were upset.

The service aimed to help people remain as integrated as possible in the community, however, as a new service some aspects of this were still being developed. People’s relatives were involved in the planning of care and said staff always made time to discuss their relatives.

The service was purpose-built and aimed to have a hotel rather than care home feel. The environment was light, airy, clean and fresh. However, it may have been difficult for some people to identify their rooms as the doors to different rooms were not easily distinguished.

People received a good standard of nursing care, however, records were not always completed fully. Some needs identified on the nursing handover sheet did not have a care plan in people’s electronic records. Daily nursing tasks such as turning and fluid intake and output were not always recorded. This meant that nursing staff could not be sure people were receiving all the care they needed at the correct frequency.

The provider had a comprehensive governance system in place which looked at incidents both on a service and at a corporate level. Where shortfalls were found action had been taken.

Staff morale was good, staff told us they enjoyed their jobs and spoke positively about their colleagues and the provider