Highmead House

Updated 13 December 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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

Highmead House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing and/or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement dependent on their registration with us. Highmead House is a care home without nursing care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

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 unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included the action plan which set out how the provider would meet the regulations. We sought feedback from the local authority and healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 3 people who use the service and 2 relatives, and observed the interaction between people and the staff. We observed staff interaction with people, to help us understand people's experience. We also spoke with 6 staff. They included the registered manager, deputy manager, senior care staff, care staff, house-keeping and maintenance staff. We reviewed a range of records. This included 6 people's care records, multiple monitoring records and medication records, and 4 staff files in relation to recruitment and supervision. We checked the environment of the home. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including staff training information, audits, meeting records policies and procedures.

Updated 13 December 2023

About the service Highmead House is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to 32 people. The service provides support to older and younger people, people living with dementia and people with physical disabilities. At the time of our inspection there were 29 people using the service.

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

People felt safe with the staff and the care provided. Systems were in place to ensure staff were trained and understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse.

People’s individual care and support needs and any known risks had been assessed, managed and monitored. Care plans were comprehensive and provided guidance for staff to follow to mitigate risks. Staff understood people’s individual care needs and associated risks. People were supported with their medicines safely.

Since the last inspection the provider had invested in the service. Improvements had been made to the premises and infection prevention and control practices and continued refurbishment. People lived in a homely, clean and hygienic environment which promoted their health, safety and wellbeing.

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.

Recruitment procedures needed to be strengthened to ensure suitable staff were employed to support people. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. Staff were supported through ongoing training and supervisions.

The registered manager understood their legal responsibility and duties. The provider’s quality assurance systems and processes had been fully embedded to monitor all aspects of the service provision and to drive improvements. This included systems to identify trends from incidents and accidents and learning opportunities.

People were involved in the review of their care and their equality and diversity needs were considered and respected. The registered manager was responsive to feedback regarding monitoring records. Feedback about the quality of service was sought from people, their relatives and staff and used to make improvements. The management team worked collaboratively with external agencies. Feedback from the local authority was positive in relation to the improvement made at the service.

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 requires improvement (published 1 August 2023) and there were breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

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 requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.

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