Henry Court

Updated 27 June 2023

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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was undertaken by 1 inspector 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

This service provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is rented and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave the service 2 days’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that a member of the management team would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 23 May 2023 and ended on 05 June 2023. We visited the registered location on 05 June 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since they registered with CQC. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us 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.

During the inspection

We spoke with 6 people who used the service and 1 relative about their experience of their care. We spoke with 7 staff members including the district manager, the registered manager, the deputy manager, a team leader and care staff. We reviewed a variety of records including 4 people’s care records and 3 people’s medication records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment, staff training and support, and records relating to the management of the service including quality audits and policies and procedures.

Updated 27 June 2023

About the service

Henry Court is an extra care service registered to provide personal care support for older people, including those living with dementia. People using the service live in one-bedroom flats and have access to shared facilities, including a restaurant, communal lounges and garden.

CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. At the time of our inspection 21 people were in receipt of personal care.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People received their care calls at the times they expected, for the length of time agreed and from staff they knew. Risks associated with people’s care and their home environment had been assessed. However, some risk management plans lacked the detail staff needed to mitigate known risk. Action was planned to address this. People felt safe and staff understood how to keep people safe. Staff recruitment and people’s medicines were managed in line with the providers procedures and best practice medicine guidance. Some staff did not follow the provider's infection control policy and procedure to prevent the spread of infection. Action was taken to address this.

People and a relative had confidence staff had the skills and knowledge needed to provide safe care. Staff received the support and training they needed to fulfil their roles. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of 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. The management team and staff understood and worked within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (2005).

The service was well managed. Effective systems were in place to check the quality and safety of the service. Feedback from people, relatives and staff was used to improve and develop the service. Staff felt valued and supported. The management team and staff worked in partnership with other professionals to support people to achieve good outcomes. People expressed their satisfaction with the way the service they received met their needs and desired outcomes.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was good (published 25 December 2019)

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about staff competencies, medicine management and the way the service was managed. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, effective and well-led only.

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 remained good based on the findings of this inspection.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns. Please see the safe, effective and well-led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for henry 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.