Clarence House Care Home

Updated 9 April 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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

This was a focused inspection to check whether the provider had met the requirements of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 following the inspection completed in March 2021 where breaches to regulations were identified.

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 site visit was completed by two inspectors, a medicines inspector and an Expert by Experience. A second Expert by Experience telephoned the relatives of those people that used the service to seek feedback. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service

Service and service type

Clarence House Care Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Clarence House Care Home is a care home without nursing care. 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 inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with eight people who used the service and one relative. We spoke with four staff including the director of residential care services, the registered manager, a senior care assistant and a care assistant. We looked at the medicine’s records for 10 people who used the service and the care records for nine people. Governance records were also viewed and included quality monitoring audits, accidents and incident records, maintenance and servicing records and the personnel files for two staff members.

After the inspection

An Expert by Experience spoke with an additional 11 relatives of people who used the service and we received written feedback from a further two relatives. Four more staff were spoken with and these included a senior care assistant, two care assistants and a cook. Written feedback was also received from two health and social care professionals. We contacted the registered manager to clarify information received and additional documents were supplied.

Updated 9 April 2022

About the service

Clarence House Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care to up to 41 people. The service provides support to older and younger people, some of whom may be living with dementia, a physical disability or a sensory impairment. At the time of our inspection there were 20 people using the service.

Clarence House Care Home is a converted period building overlooking the sea. Whilst the service can accommodate people over all three floors, at the time of the inspection, only two floors were being used. All rooms contain washing and toileting facilities and the home has several communal areas including gardens overlooking the sea.

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

We found significant improvements had been made at the service since our last inspection in March 2021. People who used the service, and their relatives, told us the care delivered was achieving positive outcomes for people. People told us they felt cared for and listened to and we saw several examples of where their health and wellbeing had improved.

The people we spoke with described an improved service that was caring, proactive and compassionate. The health and social care professionals who provided us with feedback described the service as responsive and the registered manager as professional and knowledgeable. There had been changes made to the governance systems and these had helped drive the improvements along with an enthusiastic management team who had encouraged an open and communicative culture.

Whilst risks were being managed in practice, we did find some concerns that required action. We found the provider had identified some of these via their own quality monitoring systems and actions were in place to address them. Where this had not been the case, we saw the registered manager acted promptly to rectify the issues following the feedback given.

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 inadequate (published 21 April 2021) and there were four breaches of regulation relating to safe care and treatment, staffing, safeguarding and governance. We took enforcement action and imposed conditions on the provider’s registration meaning they had to submit monthly reports to demonstrate the actions they were taking to drive improvements. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations. The conditions we imposed were removed following this inspection.

This service has been in Special Measures since 26 November 2020. During this inspection the provider demonstrated that improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.

Why we inspected

We undertook this focused inspection to check the provider 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 of Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last comprehensive inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from inadequate 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 Clarence House Care Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.