Archived: Hilbre Court

Updated 20 April 2016

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 planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 24, 25 and 26 February 2016 and was unannounced.

The team comprised of two adult social care inspectors.

We contacted the local authority quality assurance team and looked at the local Healthwatch website for any views on the service. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We also looked at our own records, to see if the service had submitted statutory notifications and to see if other people had made comments to us, about the service.

We talked with two people who used the service, five relatives and visitors, three care staff, the cook, the maintenance person, the activities coordinator and with the full-time and with the part-time managers of the service as well as with the provider. We also talked with several other of the provider’s managers and with two health care professionals who visited the home during our inspection.

We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We looked at two paper records of people's care files and looked at four others which were held on the computer. We saw four staff recruitment files, the staff training matrix, staff rotas and other records related to the running of the home, such as audits, policies and procedures and building and environmental checks and certification.

Updated 20 April 2016

This inspection took place on 24, 25 and 26 February 2016 and was unannounced. Hilbre Court was a large detached building which was registered to provide accommodation and nursing care for 17 people. It was directed for older people who were living with dementia or some other type of mental health problem.

At the time of our inspection there were 16 people living in the home.

The home required a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The home had a registered manager who had been in post for several years.

We found that staff levels were not adequate and have made a requirement about this.

The home operated safe recruitment practices and staff had been trained in safeguarding procedures and able to tell us how to contact someone if they were concerned about abuse.

The home had been maintained well and had the required certification to say that such things as gas and electrical installations were safe and that fire safety had been checked.

Staff had been trained to do their job. The home followed the appropriate guidelines in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the associated Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.

We found that the food was tasty and nutritious. We observed that staff were caring and knowledgeable about people and their needs. They delivered person centred care in a dignified way and respect people's privacy.

The management was seen to be open and transparent and the provider was accountable. Plans were in place to further improve the service and healthcare partners told us that the service and they worked well together.