9 November 2023
During an inspection looking at part of 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.