Hastings Residential Care Home

Updated 6 June 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

On 8 May 2019 this inspection was carried out by one inspector, one specialist professional advisor (SPA) who is a registered nurse and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type:

Hastings Residential Care Home is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

What we did:

We looked at the information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse, and we sought feedback from the local authority and health professionals who work with the service. We assessed the information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

We spoke with 11 people who lived at the home and six relatives to find out their views of the quality of the care provided. During the inspection, we spent time with people in the communal areas of the home and we saw how staff supported the people they cared for. Following our inspection visit we spoke to a further two relatives by telephone.

We talked with the registered manager and deputy manager. In addition, we spoke with the administrator, two senior care staff, three care staff, and a member of the housekeeping team and activities coordinator.

We looked at a range of records. This included sampling seven people's care records and multiple medication records. We also looked at records relating to the management of the home. These included systems for staff recruitment, managing incidents, and the checks undertaken by the registered manager and the provider’s senior management team on the quality of care provided.

The registered manager sent us additional information which included monthly staff newsletter and a care assessment.

Updated 6 June 2019

About the service:

Hastings Residential Care Home offers purpose built accomodation and, is registered to provide personal care for up to 63 older people some of whom live with dementia. At the time of the inspection 59 people were living at the home.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were complimentary about the caring nature of staff who they described as considerate and thoughtful when supporting them with their individual needs. Staff promoted people's right to make choices in every aspect of their lives and actively supported them to maintain their independence for as long as possible. People were supported with the utmost dignity and respect and end of life care was centred around each person being comfortable and pain free.

People’s safety was promoted by staff who knew how to recognise and report any concerns to keep people safe from harm and systems were used to learn from incidents. Risks to people from harm had been identified with action taken to promote people’s safety without taking away their levels of independence. Staff supported people in the least restrictive way possible and policies and systems supported this practice.

People who lived at the home and staff felt there were sufficient staff, so people did not have to wait for unreasonable amounts of time for staff to support them. This was an improvement made following our last comprehensive inspection.

The provider had strong recruitment procedures which the registered manager followed so people were not placed at avoidable harm by potential staff who were unsuitable to provide care. People were supported by skilled staff with the right knowledge and training which was reviewed on a regular basis to ensure staff competency in their roles. Staff practiced effectively to prevent and control infections and the management of people’s medicines was safe.

People enjoyed the meals offered and told us they could have anything they wanted to eat or drink, at any time of day or night. Staff worked in close liaison with local health and social care services to ensure people had access to any specialist support they required. Continual improvements were made to the home environment and facilities to ensure these were suitable for people’s needs. One project was to build an orangery in the garden for people to enjoy.

People's care and support met their needs and reflected their preferences. People had the opportunity to participate in a variety of fun and interesting things to do both on a one-to-one basis and in groups.

The registered manager was committed to continual improvements within the service. This included documenting additional care plans on the electronic system so staff continued to have all the guidance they required to successfully carry out their roles. There was a positive, open and empowering culture which was led by the registered manager.

A range of effective quality checks were in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service provided so people continued to receive quality care.

Rating at last inspection:

The rating at the last comprehensive inspection undertaken on 1 and 2 March 2016 was good overall and in four of the key questions apart from ‘responsive’ which was rated as requires improvement. The report was published on 13 April 2016.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on previous overall rating of good.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor the service to ensure that people receive safe, compassionate, high quality care. Further inspections will be planned for future dates.

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