Carrington Park

Updated 28 July 2022

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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type

Heathcotes (Carrington Park) is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

Inspection activity started on 18 May 2022 and ended on 31 May 2022. We visited the location on 26 May 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We looked at information we held about the service when we planned the inspection. We reviewed information that we received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from Nottingham City’s Adult Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Team and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with five members of staff including care workers, team leaders, the registered manager and the regional manager.

We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including staff training information, policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 28 July 2022

About the service

Heathcotes Carrington Park is a residential care home providing accommodation to a maximum of eight people with learning disabilities and/or complex mental health needs. Carrington Park is a large house over two floors with a shared kitchen and different lounge areas to provide people with space and choice. At the time of the inspection there were eight people living at the service.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Based on our review of safe and well-led the service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting some of the underpinning principles of right support, right care, right culture.

Right Support

Staff supported people with their medicines in a way which promoted their independence and achieved the best possible health outcome. Medicines were managed safely.

People had a choice about their living environment and were able to personalise their rooms. People's rooms were very personalised, and people were able to decorate their room to reflect their interests and hobbies.

Staff enabled people to access specialist health, dental care and social care support in the community and people were supported to play an active role in maintaining their own health and wellbeing.

The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people's needs and keep them safe.

Right Care

People's care, treatment and support plans reflected their range of needs and this promoted their individuality, wellbeing and enjoyment of life.

People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people's privacy and dignity.

Staff understood and responded to their individual needs.

Staff received training and support to provide care effectively. People were provided with meals and drinks to maintain their wellbeing. People were supported by health care professionals who worked in partnership with the service to maintain people's health and wellbeing.

Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it.

People could take part in activities of their choosing at home or in the wider community and pursue their own interests.

Right culture

People led inclusive and empowered lives because of the ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of the management and staff. The stable management and staff team supported people to receive consistent care from staff who knew them well. This meant people received compassionate and empowering care which was tailored to their needs.

Mental Capacity Act

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.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

During this inspection we carried out a separate thematic probe, which asked questions of the provider, people and their relatives, about the quality of oral health care support and access to dentists, for people living in the care home. This was to follow up on the findings and recommendations from our national report on oral healthcare in care homes that was published in 2019 called ‘Smiling Matters’. We will publish a follow up report to the 2019 'Smiling Matters' report, with up to date findings and recommendations about oral health, in due course.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 16 March 2019).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to people’s care and support, behaviours of staff and the managers response to concerns. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

Follow up

After the inspection we continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We spoke to two family members about their experience of the care provided to their relative.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Heathcotes (Carrington Park) on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.