About the service: Polonia Residential Home (Polonia) is a is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided and both were looked at during this inspection. Polonia is registered to provide accommodation and personal care for up to nine people aged 65 and over and mainly from eastern European backgrounds. At the time of our inspection there were nine people living at the home.

Rating at last inspection:

At the last inspection the service was rated Requires Improvement. The report was published in March 2018. We found breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) 2014 relating to recruitment and governance.

People’s experience of using this service:

At this inspection we found evidence the service did not meet the characteristics of Good in all areas. We have made two recommendations to the provider about creating a more dementia-friendly environment and meaningful activities for people living with dementia.

We identified three breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 relating to equipment safety, recruitment and governance. Details of action we have asked the provider to take can be found at the end of this report.

The provider did not have a thorough overview of the quality of the service provision. Audit processes were not sufficiently robust. This meant people were at risk of harm because the provider did not have effective checks in place to monitor the quality of the service.

Recruitment processes were not safe. This meant people were not protected from the risk of unsuitable staff being employed.

People and their relatives told us the service was safe. Medicines were administered and stored safely.

There were sufficient and adequately trained staff to support people safely. The provider had suitable systems in place to protect people from abuse.

People were supported in a friendly and respectful way. People, relatives and staff got on well. Staff had a good knowledge of people’s personalities and their behaviours.

The atmosphere at the home was warm and welcoming. People and relatives told us staff supported them in a compassionate and caring manner.

There was a complaints policy in place, but no one had cause to raise any complaints.

More information is in the full report.

Why we inspected:

This inspection was planned based on the previous rating. Following the last inspection, we asked the provider to complete an action plan to show what they would do and by when to improve the key questions of Safe and Well Led to at least good. We found the provider had not made sufficient improvements and that there were ongoing concerns in these areas. We found new concerns relating to equipment safety.

Enforcement: Action we told provider to take (refer to end of full report).

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit in line with our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.

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

We carried out this inspection on the 11 December 2017 and the inspection was unannounced. Our last inspection of the service was on the 26 September and 3 October 2016, where we rated the service ‘Requires Improvement’. At that inspection we found the service to be good in caring and requires improvement in safe, effective, responsive and well led and we found two breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, in relation to safe care and treatment and need for consent. This meant that the service wasn’t meeting the expected standards at the last inspection. At this inspection we found improvements had been made in these areas.

Polonia Care Home is a residential home providing care to nine older people mainly from Eastern European backgrounds. There are seven single bedrooms and one shared room.

A registered manager was in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People did receive their prescribed medicines on time and medication was stored safely. Medicines were audited regularly and balances of medicines were correct.

Staff were aware of the signs and symptoms of abuse, how to report concerns and who they would report to. There was a whistle blowing policy in place and staff were aware of the policy and were also aware of the safeguarding policy.

Pre-employment checks for new staff members were not always completed satisfactorily.

There were policies, procedures and risk assessments in place in relation to health and safety and fire safety. However the polices required further work to personalise them to the service.

Staff were kind and caring to people living at the service. They were knowledgeable about the person and their needs and followed care plans to support people.

People living at the service had risk assessments in place but further work was required to document the management of the risks and plans in place to reduce the risks.

Staff received training appropriate to the service and staff were given the opportunity to continue their own personal development. They were given the opportunity to attend staff meetings and receive regular supervision.

People and their representatives and health professionals were very complimentary of the service and the staff team.

People's health needs were met in a timely manner and the service had access to advice and support from a care home team who was able to offer earlier diagnosis to illness which reduced the likelihood of people requiring admission to hospital.

The service was working within the principles of the Mental capacity Act 2005 and the service made appropriate referrals if people were being deprived of their liberty.

At this inspection we found two breaches of the Regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 in relation to the safe recruitment of staff and good governance. You can see what action we have told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.