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.