Improving Sutton care home is out of special measures after latest inspection

Stoneyford Care Home, on Stoneyford Road, was placed into special measures last July after being rated ‘inadequate’by the CQC.

However, nine months on, things have improved and the home has been upgraded to ‘requires improvement’ overall and special measures have been removed.

The home was rated ‘requires improvement’ in the safe, effective, responsive and well-led catregories of inspection, but the improvement in the home was reflected in it being rated ‘good’ for caring.

Rugma Mohan, home manager, said: “We are very pleased with the latest inspection and we are continuing working to improve.

"The main thing now is being out of special measures which is a big relief and we are moving in the right direction, working towards moving from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’.”

In their report, CQC inspectors said: “At our last assessment the service was in breach of regulations for consent, safe care and treatment and governance.

"At this assessment the service was no longer in breach of regulations for consent and safe care and treatment.

"However, the service had a continued breach of regulation for governance and concerns were found with record keeping within the electronic care system and paper records.

"Where incidents had occurred policies and procedures had not been followed regarding taking and recording of observations and other care interventions such as fluid and nutrition and personal care.

"Management reviews did not always review and analyse incidents so lessons could not always be learned and reviews had not identified the gaps in record keeping seen on the inspection.

"We found improvements had been made in keeping people safe.

"Staff were knowledgeable of safeguarding incidents and manual handling techniques had improved.

“People were supported appropriately to mobilise and transfer using equipment such as hoists and wheelchairs and improvements were seen in relation to the mealtime experience, correct use of personal protective equipment and reduction of risk to people in relation to risks of infection and cross contamination. “This service has been in special measures since July 2024 but the provider demonstrated improvements that had been made.

"The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions and, therefore, this service is no longer in special measures.

“We received positive feedback from people, who told us there had been significant improvements in the home since our last inspection and they now felt safe from the risk of harm.

"While people still told us they had some concerns surrounding staff availability, especially within communal areas, people told us staff were more responsive to their needs such as personal care.

"People stated they no longer feared repercussions from raising concerns and were now confident to do so.

"People told us at times there was still a language barrier between them and staff – however, people said this area had improved and in doing so had helped forge meaningful relationships between people and staff.

"Most relatives we spoke with told us that staff were more responsive and gave them regular updates on their family members when they requested, and the manager was more approachable and more visible within the home.”