The Royal Elms Care Home

The following is CQC's published account of its assessment, published 30 October 2024. References to “we” mean CQC. It describes findings at that time.

The assessment took place between 5 August 16 August 2024. The Royal Elms is a care home. It is registered to provide personal care for up to 26 older people, with 24 people living at the service during our assessment. We had received concerns about medicines, the cleanliness and management of the home. A decision to assess the service was made. We reviewed the quality statements associated with these concerns. We did not find evidence to support the concerns raised. We did find some issues relating to care plans and risk assessments which lacked information to guide staff about people’s support needs. The registered manager updated these during the assessment. Staff were busy and there were periods of time when staff were not able to be present in communal areas. Staff did not have the time to arrange day to day activities to engage people. Special occasions were celebrated. Staff said they enjoyed working at the home and felt well supported by the registered manager. They were able to raise any issues with the management team and felt listened to. Staff recruitment procedures were not always robust around verifying references and ensuring gaps in employment were explained. Staff received training for their role. We discussed the frequency of refresher training and whether further courses in meeting some people’s specific needs were needed. People received their medicines as prescribed. More details were needed in some records to fully understand how people communicated if they needed as required medicines. The use of thickeners to reduce the risk of choking were not always recorded. We observed positive interactions between people and staff. However, we also observed 1 member of staff standing over the person while they were supporting to eat their meal. Governance systems were in place and any issues they identified were actioned. However, the audits had not identified the issues we found during the assessment. A programme of refurbishment was in place.