9 June 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Hamshaw Court is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to 45 older people who may also be living with dementia. At the time of our inspection, there were 19 people using the service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People gave positive feedback about the improvements that had been made since the last inspection. The new manager and provider had worked to address concerns and reduce risks.
More detailed care plans and risk assessments were used to guide staff on how to safely support people. The manager was responsive and made further improvements where needed following our feedback.
Improvements had been made to help make sure people received their prescribed medicines when needed. We spoke with the manager in relation to recording issues for one person and made a recommendation in relation to making sure medicines were stored at the right temperature.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control over their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Applications had been submitted to ensure people were lawfully deprived of their liberty.
Systems and processes were in place to help minimise the risks associated with COVID-19. Some environmental issues needed to be addressed to ensure all areas of the service could be kept hygienically clean.
People felt safe living at the service. Staff were safely recruited, and enough staff were deployed to safely meet people’s needs. Agency staff were used where necessary to cover gaps in the rota. A system was in place to help make sure agency staff had the information and skills to safely support people. The manager was working to reduce the number of agency staff used.
Regular audits were used to help monitor the quality and safety of the service. Action plans were used to support continuous improvements. People praised the changes made, the improved communication and how management responded to feedback.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was inadequate (published 9 November 2021) and there were multiple breaches of regulation. At this inspection, improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
This service had been in Special Measures since 9 November 2021. During this inspection, the provider demonstrated improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.
Why we inspected
We carried out an unannounced focussed inspection of this service on 30 September and 5 October 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found.
We undertook this focused inspection to follow up on action we told the provider to take following our last inspection and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions safe and well-led, which contain those requirements.
We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the safe Key Question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from inadequate to requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Hamshaw Court on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.