Archived: Heatherwood

Updated 30 June 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

We undertook this focused inspection of Heatherwood on the 13 June 2017. This inspection was completed to check if improvements had been made to meet the legal requirements for breaches to the regulations we found after our comprehensive inspection on 21 and 22 March 2017. We inspected the service against two of the five questions we ask about services, safe and well led. This is because the service was not meeting legal requirements in relation to these key questions and enforcement action was taken.

The inspection was undertaken by one inspector. Before our inspection we reviewed information we held about the service and the provider. This included notifications received from the provider about deaths, accidents and safeguarding alerts. A notification is information about important events that the provider is required to send us by law. We used this information to help inform our inspection.

During this inspection we spoke with the director of care and a member of staff. We also looked at the care plans and risk assessments for three people using the service and records relating to quality monitoring of the service.

Updated 30 June 2017

Heatherwood provides accommodation and personal care for up to eight older adults in Orpington, Kent. At the time of our inspection the home was providing support to three people.

We carried out an announced inspection of this service on 21 and 22 March 2017 at which breaches of legal requirements were found. We took enforcement action and served warning notices on the registered provider in respect of breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Risks to people had not always been identified, assessed adequately, or steps taken to mitigate them. The provider's systems for assessing and monitoring the quality and safety of the services provided, to mitigate risks to the health, safety and welfare of people using the service were not always operating effectively.

We undertook this focused inspection on the 13 June 2017 to check that the provider met our legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the breaches identified in the warning notices. We will follow up on the other breaches of legal requirements at our next inspection. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the link for Heatherwood on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

At this inspection we found that the provider had addressed the breaches of Regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and were compliant with the warning notices we served. Risks to people had been identified, assessed and steps were being taken to mitigate them. The provider's systems for assessing and monitoring the quality and safety of the services provided had improved and were operating effectively.

The home had a registered manager in post; however we were advised at the time of this inspection that they had tendered their resignation. The provider was in the process of recruiting a new manager to run the home. The director of care said they would be managing the home until a new manager was recruited. They also told us that a new deputy manager had been recruited and would start working at the home in July 2017.

We found that the provider had addressed the breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and were compliant with the warning notices we served.

However the ratings for the key questions safe and well led at this inspection remain ‘Requires Improvement’ at this time as systems and processes that have been implemented have not been operational for a sufficient amount of time for us to be sure of consistent and sustained good practice.