Abbey Care Home

Updated 21 September 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.

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.

The inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Abbey 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. Abbey 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 the 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 spent time observing people individually and in groups in communal areas. We spoke with three people who used the service, two care staff and the registered manager. We reviewed a range of records including three people's care records, three staff files, menus, medicines records and the provider's policies and procedures.

Updated 21 September 2022

About the service

Abbey Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care for up to 20 people. The service provides support to older people and people with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 16 people using the service.

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

People had limited experiences of stimulating activities and the provider was working to improve this. However, people felt safe and there was a caring atmosphere in the home. There was a robust staff recruitment process in place to ensure staff employed at the service were safe to provide personal care. People had person-centred care plans and staff knew the needs of each person they supported. Each person had a risk assessment, which was reviewed. This ensured that potential risks to people were identified and managed.

Staff respected people's privacy and dignity. Care plans detailed people's likes, dislikes and how they wanted staff to support them. Staff knew about equality and diversity and their responsibility to treat people without discrimination.

The registered manager audited various aspects of the service and ensured that people, staff and relatives provided feedback as part of the provider's quality assurance system. The service worked in partnership with health and social care stakeholders.

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 Good (published 25 November 2019). We also inspected the service (not rated) (published 22 December 2022).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

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.

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 remained Good.

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

Follow up

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