About the service:

Elliott House is a ‘care home.’ People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. At the time of inspection, there were 56 people living at Elliott House.

People’s experience of using this service:

¿People were not always treated with dignity and respect. Staff referred to people using their room numbers instead of their names. The use of inappropriate language was observed at the last inspection improvements had not been made.

¿ There were not enough staff to support people safely, especially at mealtimes.

¿ Risks to people were not always identified and/or effectively mitigated.

¿ The provider and registered managers did not have a robust system in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service people received.

¿ People had access to food and hot and cold drinks throughout the day. People told us that they enjoyed the food.

¿ Staff had the knowledge and training to protect people from abuse.

¿Staff received training relevant to their role to meet people’s physical needs.

¿ Sufficient consideration had been given to the environment for people living with dementia.

¿ People had access to a range of different activities throughout the week. People told us that they took part in these and that they were enjoyable. However, little consideration had been given to providing meaningful activities for people living with dementia.

¿ When people needed medical attention, this was quickly identified, and appropriate action was taken. For example, if people were losing weight referrals were made to dieticians, or if people fell regularly they were referred to a falls clinic. We saw district nurses and the GP visiting the service on inspection.

¿ When incidents and accidents occurred, they were investigated appropriately and learnt from.

¿ People had choice over their care and support and their choice and privacy was respected by staff.

¿ Peoples wishes for their end of their lives were recorded and respected. The registered managers were developing a leaflet, so this information could be collected when people joint the service.

¿ People were asked for their feedback through questionnaires and resident's meetings and we saw the registered managers had taken action as a result of these findings.

Rating at last inspection:

In March 2018 the provider changed from one relative to another. Therefore, Elliott House Care Home changed legal entity to become Elliott House. However, the registered managers, staff and policies and procedures remained the same.

At the inspection of the predecessor, Elliott House Care Home we rated the service as good in all domains except effective which was rated requires improvement (Published 6 October 2017).

Why we inspected:

Scheduled inspection based on timescale for unrated services.

Follow up:

We will require the service to send us action plans to demonstrate how they will address the breaches of regulation we found at this inspection. Areas for improvement will also be followed up on the next inspection.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk