• Care Home
  • Care home

Harmony House Nursing Home

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Harmony House, 283 Old Shoreham Road, Southwick, Brighton, East Sussex, BN42 4LP (01273) 415630

Provided and run by:
Radiant Care Limited

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 13 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:

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type:

Harmony House Nursing Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. Harmony House Nursing Home accommodates up to 29 older people in an adapted building.

The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. A registered manager and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. The manager in post had previously been the registered manager at the service and a new manager had been appointed.

Notice of inspection:

The inspection was unannounced, so the provider, manager and staff team did not know we would be visiting.

What we did:

Before the inspection we reviewed information, we held about the service and the service provider. The registered provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We looked at the notifications we had received for this service. Notifications are information about important events the service is required to send us by law.

During the inspection we spoke with eight people who used the services and three regular visitors to ask about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with the nominated individual, the manager and six members of staff. We received feedback from a social care professional prior to our inspection and a health professional during our visit. We also observed care practices. Following the inspection, as agreed, we received feedback from a further two visitors and a member of staff.

We reviewed a range of records that included five care plans, daily monitoring charts and medicines records. We also looked at a range of records relating to the management and monitoring of the service. These included audits, policies and maintenance checks.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 13 June 2019

About the service:

Harmony House Nursing Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection. Harmony House Nursing Home accommodates up to 29 older people in an adapted building. At the time of our inspection 26 people were living in the home.

People’s experience of using this service:

People told us they felt safe, they were relaxed and familiar with the staff and each other. People were cared for by a consistent staff team who had received appropriate training to carry out their roles.

People’s dietary needs and preferences were assessed and where needed, people received support to eat and drink. Meal times were an important social event in the day for those who chose to eat together.

People received assistance to take their medicines as prescribed and were supported to access health care services.

People received care that was compassionate, respectful and responsive to their individual needs. Care plans were comprehensive, respectful, and reviewed to ensure they reflected people’s needs.

People and their relatives knew how to complain and were confident their views would be heard.

No people were receiving end of life care at the time of our inspection visit. The staff were proud of the care they provided at the end of people’s lives. The clinical lead had undertaken a comprehensive, accredited training programme run by the local hospice. They used this knowledge to develop end of life care within the home.

The previous registered manager had died unexpectedly, and their loss was felt by the staff, the people and their relatives. The nominated individual had ensured continuity of management and the quality of care people received had not been impacted.

The team shared a clear vision about the quality of care and service they aimed to provide.

More information is in detailed findings below.

Rating at last inspection:

The last inspection was comprehensive. The overall rating was Good (report published in October 2016).

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating from the last inspection. The service remained rated Good overall.

Follow up:

We will monitor information received about the service to inform the assessment of the risk profile of the service and to ensure the next planned inspection is scheduled accordingly.