About the service Cameron House Care Home is a care home providing personal and nursing care to 33 older people, some of whom were living with dementia at the time of the inspection. The service is registered to support up to 40 people.
The home has two floors which supports a mixture of people with residential and nursing needs. There is a large communal lounge and dining area, a smaller lounge, with a conservatory and an accessible garden. All bedrooms are single occupancy.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People and their relatives felt Cameron House was a safe place to live. Risks people may face had been identified and steps identified to manage these risks were in place. We have made a recommendation for staff to follow government guidance for using personal protective equipment (PPE). People received their medicines as prescribed. A plan was in place to improve the protocols for when people needed an as required medicine. A recording system was introduced during the inspection when thickeners were used to reduce the risk of choking.
There were times when staff were not visible in the lounge area, especially when the activities organiser was not on duty. The manager said staffing levels would be reviewed immediately. Staff were safely recruited and received the training and support to carry out their roles.
People were supported to maintain their nutrition, hydration and health. Improvements had been made in oral care. 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.
People and relatives said the staff were kind and caring. We observed positive interactions throughout our inspection. Staff said they enjoyed working at Cameron House and felt well supported by their colleagues and the management team.
A quality assurance system was in place, including audits carried out by the regional operations manager and director. Action plans were written and signed off when completed. All incidents and accidents were reviewed to reduce the risk of a reoccurrence. Complaints were responded to appropriately.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
This service was registered with us on 23 May 2020 and this was the first comprehensive inspection. A focused inspection (published 18 February 2021) gave the safe and well led domains a good rating. A rating was not given for the whole service as we did not look at all five domains at this inspection.
The last rating for Cameron House under the previous provider was requires improvement (Published 20 November 2019).
Why we inspected
This was the first comprehensive inspection and was carried out to provide Cameron House with an overall rating.
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.
Recommendations
We have made a recommendation about staff following the current government guidance for the use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.