Archived: Harding House

Updated 16 November 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.’

We inspected Harding House on the 12 September and 11 October 2018. The inspection was unannounced on the first day and announced on the second day and carried out by one inspector. A British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter joined us on the first day of inspection and we spoke with five people who lived in the home to seek their views about the care they received.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service including the last inspection report. During the inspection we checked two people’s care records, four staff files and records relating to the management of the home. We also spoke with two support workers and the registered manager. Following our inspection, we received written feedback from one external health professional.

Updated 16 November 2018

Harding House 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. Harding House is registered to provide accommodation and personal care for up to 10 people who are deaf with mental health needs. At the time of the inspection there were six people living in the home and one person was in hospital.

A registered manager was in post who was present on both days of the inspection. 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 registered manager was also responsible for managing Huguenot Place located nearby which is another CQC registered care home which we inspected at the same time as Harding House. Staff working at each service attended joint staff meetings and accessed the same organisational systems in place across areas such as training, care planning and quality assurance.

We inspected Harding House on 12 September and 11 October 2018. The inspection was unannounced on the first day and we told the provider we would be returning on the second day. Our last inspection took place in June 2017 where we rated the service ‘Requires improvement’.

At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the feedback from people using the service reflected this. However, the registered manager reported on the continuing difficulties in recruiting suitable staff with the appropriate communication skills to work effectively with the people living at Harding House.

Appropriate numbers of support staff were allocated to help keep people safe with regular temporary staff used to cover vacancies. People spoken with were generally happy with the support provided by the staff working at Harding House but said that communication could sometimes be a problem depending on which staff were on shift.

We saw staff members had been safely recruited and had access to both mandatory and specialist training. Staff also received regular one to one supervision and additional support when required.

Staff understood how to help protect people from the risk of abuse. The service had procedures in place to report any safeguarding concerns to the local authority. People and staff were protected from potential risk of harm as the service had identified and assessed any risks to them and reviewed these on a regular basis. People had assessments which were individual to the person and their strengths and needs.

Medicines were administered in a safe way. Staff received training and a competency framework was in place to make sure they understood and followed safe procedures for administering medicines.

Staff had received training in the MCA (Mental Capacity Act 2005) and understood the importance of gaining people’s consent before assisting them.

The service completed a detailed personalised support plan for each person with information provided in accessible formats. They kept people’s needs under review and made changes as required.

People using the service felt able to raise any concerns or complaints. There was a procedure in place for people to follow if they wanted to raise any issues. Staff also said they felt comfortable in raising any concerns should they have any.

The registered manager monitored the quality of the service and made changes to improve the service provided when required. Staff and people who used the service found the management team to be approachable.