CQC report explained · a residential care home
What the CQC found at Appley Cliff - Care Home Physical Disabilities
Rated Good: inspectors found the home performing well and meeting their expectations.
- Safe?
- Good
- Inspectors found suitable infection prevention and control arrangements, including testing, protective equipment, cleaning, social distancing and safe visiting procedures. The manager also described how risks would be managed when people were admitted or returned from hospital.
- Effective?
- Good
- This area was not covered by the targeted inspection.
- Caring?
- Good
- This area was not covered by the targeted inspection.
- Responsive?
- Good
- This area was not covered by the targeted inspection.
- Well-led?
- Good
- This area was not covered by the targeted inspection.
What inspectors found, February 2022
Appley Cliff - Care Home Physical Disabilities was inspected but not rated; inspectors found strong COVID-19 infection control and safe visiting arrangements.
Inspectors visited the home on 2 February 2022. The visit was announced one day beforehand and focused on infection prevention, visiting arrangements and whether COVID-19 staffing pressures affected care.
They found up-to-date infection control policies, regular testing for people and staff, enough protective equipment, safe use of that equipment and appropriate cleaning. Visitors were screened, tested and given protective equipment.
The home was inspected but not rated. This was a targeted inspection, so it does not provide an overall quality rating or ratings for all five areas of care.
Safe family visits
The home had procedures to make visits safer. Visitors were screened, tested before entry and given protective equipment with guidance on how to use it.
“There were procedures in place to support safe visiting by family members or professionals.” from the report
Testing and protective equipment
People and staff were tested regularly. Staff had frequent lateral flow tests and weekly PCR tests, with a good supply of protective equipment.
“People and staff were regularly tested for COVID-19. Staff had LFT testing three times a week as well as standard Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests weekly.” from the report
Clean environment
Inspectors found the home clean, with records of cleaning and extra attention to frequently touched surfaces.
“The home was kept clean. Staff kept records of their cleaning schedules, which included a rolling programme of continuously cleaning high touch surfaces” from the report
Inspectors raised no specific concerns in this report.
- 01What infection prevention and control arrangements are currently in place for family visits?
- 02How often are staff and residents currently tested for COVID-19?
- 03How does the home manage staffing pressures when staff are absent because of COVID-19?
- 04What arrangements are used when a resident returns from hospital?
- 05What were the home's ratings at its previous full inspection, and when will the wider areas of care be inspected again?
This was a targeted inspection of infection prevention and control, visiting arrangements and COVID-19-related staffing pressures; it was not a full inspection and the service was inspected but not rated. This explanation was written from the published report of 18 February 2022 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, September 2019
Rated Good; inspectors found kind, personalised care, with some medicines checks and staff training needing improvement.
This was an unannounced inspection on 16 and 22 July 2019. One inspector spoke with seven people, two relatives and 12 staff. They observed care and checked care plans, medicines, staff records and the home’s management records.
The home was rated Good in all five areas: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led. People and relatives said they felt safe and listened to. Inspectors found enough staff, personalised care, good support for independence, and kind and respectful treatment.
There were some minor shortfalls. Medicines audits had not identified problems with storage temperatures, and some staff training was overdue. The manager acted promptly during and after the inspection. The overall rating improved from Requires Improvement at the previous inspection, published in July 2018.
Kind and respectful care
Inspectors saw positive, patient interactions. People and relatives spoke warmly about the staff.
“We observed people were treated with kindness and compassion by staff.” from the report
Choice and independence
People were involved in their care and supported to make their own decisions. Equipment and routines helped people do more for themselves.
“People were empowered to make their own decisions and choices where they were able to do so.” from the report
Enough consistent staff
People were supported by mainly permanent staff and inspectors saw care delivered without people being rushed.
“People were supported by appropriate numbers of mainly consistent, permanent staff.” from the report
Improved infection control
The home had refurbished areas that had previously created infection risks. It was clean, organised and had suitable infection control procedures.
“At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulation 12.” from the report
Personalised activities
People could take part in activities at the home and in the community. Staff supported individual interests, including gardening.
“People were provided with opportunities to participate in a range of activities of their choice both within the home and on regular outings to the local community.” from the report
Medicine storage checks
seriousAudits had not identified that fridge temperatures for some medicines might not always have been safe. The manager put a suitable thermometer in place and added checks to the weekly audit.
“These had not identified that staff were not taking action when temperature checks of the fridge used to store some medicines showed this may not always have been at a safe temperature.” from the report
Overdue staff training
needs fixingSome staff had not completed required updates, including fire awareness, safeguarding and infection control training. The manager gathered the information and started arranging completion.
“Approximately one third of staff had training to complete.” from the report
Missing risk assessment
seriousOne person taking an anticoagulant medicine did not have a risk assessment for the increased risk of bleeding. This was addressed during the inspection.
“No risk assessment for this was in place.” from the report
Audits did not catch all shortfalls
needs fixingThe home had several monitoring systems, but they had not identified the medicine room, fridge temperature and staff training issues before the inspection.
“A range of audits and quality monitoring procedures were in place; however, these had not identified areas such as the medicines room and fridge temperature monitoring failings or lack of some staff training we found.” from the report
- 01How do you now record and review the minimum and maximum temperatures for medicine fridges and medicine storage rooms?
- 02Have all staff completed the overdue training identified in this inspection, including fire awareness, safeguarding and infection control?
- 03How is the bleeding risk managed for people taking anticoagulant medicines, and are their risk assessments reviewed regularly?
- 04What progress has been made with the new manager’s CQC registration and the management arrangements?
- 05What new activities or community opportunities have been added since the manager identified this as an area for development?
This was an unannounced planned inspection covering all five CQC questions, with the ratings compared with the previous inspection published in July 2018. This explanation was written from the published report of 3 September 2019 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 Appley Cliff - Care Home Physical Disabilities
3 rated inspections over 3 years: the service has held its Good rating throughout.
- February 2022Inspected but not ratedcurrent ratingSafe: Inspected but not rated
Read what inspectors found at Appley Cliff - Care Home Physical Disabilities →
- September 2019Goodup from Requires improvementSafe: GoodEffective: GoodCaring: GoodResponsive: GoodWell-led: Good
Read what inspectors found at Appley Cliff - Care Home Physical Disabilities →
- July 2018Requires improvementdown from GoodSafe: Requires improvementEffective: GoodCaring: Requires improvementResponsive: GoodWell-led: Requires improvement
- June 2016GoodSafe: Requires improvementEffective: GoodCaring: GoodResponsive: GoodWell-led: Good
- March 2014
Report published without a new overall rating.
- February 2013
Report published without a new overall rating.
- February 2012
Report published without a new overall rating.
- January 2011
Registered with the Care Quality Commission on 12 January 2011.
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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Most charge £1,010 to £1,230 a week. 68 can care for a couple. 11 years' experience on average.
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