CQC report explained · a residential care home
What the CQC found at Abbey Hey Care Home
Rated Good: inspectors found the home performing well and meeting their expectations.
- Safe?
- Good
- People and relatives said they felt safe. Inspectors found enough staff, safe recruitment, effective risk assessments, suitable safeguarding procedures and safe medicines management.
- Effective?
- Good
- This question was not inspected in this report. Its rating was carried forward from the previous inspection.
- Caring?
- Good
- This question was not inspected in this report. Its rating was carried forward from the previous inspection.
- Responsive?
- Good
- This question was not inspected in this report. Its rating was carried forward from the previous inspection.
- Well-led?
- Good
- Inspectors found good management and leadership, regular audits and meetings, and systems for gathering people's views and improving the service.
What inspectors found, February 2024
Rated Good; inspectors found a safe, well-managed home with enough staff and effective checks.
The inspection was unannounced and took place on 15 and 18 January 2024. Two inspectors spoke with people living at the home, relatives and staff. They also reviewed care plans, recruitment files, training records and quality checks.
The safe rating was Good. Inspectors found enough staff, safe recruitment, effective risk management and suitable safeguarding arrangements. The home was clean, medicines were managed safely and records were complete.
The well-led rating was Good. Inspectors found an approachable management team, regular meetings and audits, and systems for listening to people and relatives. The home also worked with health and social care professionals.
The overall rating was Good, the same as at the previous inspection published in July 2018. This inspection looked only at Safe and Well-led. The other three question ratings were carried forward from the previous inspection.
Enough staff
People and staff told inspectors there were enough staff to meet people's needs. Recruitment checks, including references and DBS checks, were completed.
“Staffing is adequate and we are able to meet people's needs.” from the report
Safe medicines
Inspectors found medicines were stored securely and staff had training and competency checks. Records were complete, including for controlled drugs and creams.
“Medication records were completed accurately by staff with no missing signatures, including those for controlled drugs and topical creams.” from the report
Quality monitoring
The home used audits, meetings, surveys and staff competency checks to monitor the service. People and relatives could raise concerns and give their views.
“There were systems in place to monitor the quality of service through audits, meetings, surveys and competency checks.” from the report
Positive management
People and staff described the management as approachable and responsive. The home also worked with health and social care professionals.
“Everybody we spoke with said they felt the service was well-led.” from the report
Inspectors raised no specific concerns in this report.
- 01How will you meet my relative's specific needs, particularly if they are living with dementia?
- 02How do you make sure staffing levels remain sufficient when staff are absent?
- 03How are medicines that are given when needed reviewed and monitored?
- 04How can relatives raise concerns and see what action has been taken?
- 05What were the ratings for Effective, Caring and Responsive at the previous inspection?
This was an unannounced inspection of Safe and Well-led only; the ratings for Effective, Caring and Responsive were carried forward from the previous inspection. This explanation was written from the published report of 7 February 2024 by an AI system and checked against the report text: every quoted line appears in the report. It is a guide to the report, not a substitute for it. Read the full report on cqc.org.uk.
What inspectors found, July 2018
Abbey Hey Care Home rated Good; inspectors found safe, kind and personalised care, with some staff training still being refreshed.
This was an unannounced inspection on 05 June 2018. Inspectors spoke with people living at the home, relatives, managers and staff. They observed care and checked care records, medicines records, staff files and management records.
The home was rated Good in all five areas: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led. Inspectors found people were safe, treated with dignity, supported with their health needs and offered personalised care and activities.
The home had improved from Requires Improvement at the April 2017 inspection. Inspectors said the improvements had been sustained. They also found significant improvement after a previous recommendation about the timeliness and recording of staff supervision.
There were some gaps in staff training because of problems with new online courses. An action plan was in place to refresh mandatory training within two months. No breaches of regulations are recorded in this report.
Safe medicines
Medicines were stored, administered and recorded safely. Inspectors found no gaps in the sample of medicines administration records they checked.
“We observed a medicines round. Medicines were administered safely and signed for immediately following administration.” from the report
Kind and respectful care
Staff were caring and knew people well. Inspectors saw people treated with dignity and supported in a calm and respectful way.
“We saw positive interactions between staff and people. Staff were holding hands with people and the atmosphere across the whole service was calm and caring.” from the report
Personalised care
Care records described people's needs, preferences, life history and what mattered to them. This helped staff provide care based on each person.
“The care records contained detailed information to guide staff on the care and support to be provided.” from the report
Health and nutrition
The home worked with healthcare professionals and monitored nutrition and hydration. Staff adapted meals for people with diabetes or who were underweight.
“The cook prepared sugar free desserts for people with diabetes and fortified meals with cream and other full fat alternatives for people that were underweight.” from the report
Improved management
The home had improved from its previous rating and inspectors found that the changes had been maintained. Audits and action plans were being used to monitor quality.
“At this inspection we found the service had sustained its improvement and we have therefore rated it 'good' overall.” from the report
Training gaps
needs fixingSome mandatory training was not up to date because of problems with new online courses. The manager had an action plan to refresh the training within two months.
“The registered manager told us that there were some gaps in training due to issues around the effectiveness of new online learning courses.” from the report
Occasional staffing pressure
minorInspectors found staffing levels were sufficient during the visit, but a staff member reported that sickness or incidents could sometimes leave the home short staffed.
“Sometimes we can be a bit short staffed because of sickness or an incident, but the managers come to help out or we borrow staff from the other floor.” from the report
- 01Were all mandatory staff training refreshers completed within the planned two months?
- 02How do you maintain safe staffing levels when staff are off sick or there is an incident?
- 03How often are care plans reviewed and updated when a person's needs or preferences change?
- 04How are families involved in care decisions and kept informed about changes in health?
- 05What quality checks and action plans are currently being used to monitor medicines, falls and care records?
This was an unannounced inspection of the overall service, covering all five CQC areas and providing ratings for Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led. This explanation was written from the published report of 11 July 2018 by an AI system and checked against the report text: every quoted line appears in the report. It is a guide to the report, not a substitute for it. Read the full report on cqc.org.uk.
Every inspection of Abbey Hey Care Home
4 rated inspections over 7 years: the service has improved, from Inadequate to Good.
- February 2024Goodcurrent ratingstayed GoodSafe: GoodEffective: GoodCaring: GoodResponsive: GoodWell-led: Good
- July 2018Goodup from Requires improvementSafe: GoodWell-led: Good
- June 2017Requires improvementup from InadequateSafe: GoodEffective: Requires improvementCaring: GoodResponsive: GoodWell-led: Requires improvement
- December 2016InadequateSafe: InadequateEffective: Requires improvementCaring: Requires improvementResponsive: Requires improvementWell-led: Inadequate
- January 2014
Registered with the Care Quality Commission on 29 January 2014.
Ratings and report dates from the Care Quality Commission, Open Government Licence v3.0. A home can also be visited without a new rating being published, so the timeline shows published inspections.
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