Harwood Road

Updated 14 December 2023

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

Harwood Road 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 provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

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

Notice of inspection

Inspection activity started on 5 November 2023 and ended on 28 November 2023. The inspection visit on 6 November 2023 was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed all the information we had received about the service. We used all this information to plan our inspection. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers 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.

During the inspection

We spoke in person with the registered manager, and team leader. We also spoke with 3 people using the service, 3 staff and 3 healthcare professionals to gain their experience and views about the care provided. We reviewed a range of records. They included 2 staff files containing recruitment, training, and supervision information, and 3 peoples’ files containing care and medicine records, risk assessments, care plans and reviews. We checked a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits, quality assurance, policies, and procedures. We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We requested additional evidence to be sent to us after our inspection visit. This included staff rotas and training information, and provider quality assurance audits. We received the information which was used as part of 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.

Updated 14 December 2023

About the service

Harwood Road is a care home that provides care and support for up to 15 people. At the time of our inspection there were 14 people using the service including who had mental health challenges. The care home accommodates people in 1 building.

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

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.

People said that Harwood Road was a safe place for them to live. People had risks to them regularly assessed, reviewed and this meant they could take acceptable risks, enjoy their lives, and live safely. Accidents, incidents, and safeguarding concerns were reported, investigated, and recorded. There were enough suitably recruited staff to meet people’s needs. Staff safely administered medicines and prompted people to take them. When required by staff used Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) effectively, safely, and in line with current guidance. The infection prevention and control policy were up to date.

People, and healthcare professionals said effective care was provided, people were not subject to discrimination and their equality and diversity needs were met. Staff received appropriate training, and were supervised. People told us the care staff provided was good, and met their needs. They were encouraged to discuss their health needs, any changes to them, and concerns were passed on to the management and appropriate health care professionals. This included moving to other services if people’s needs changed and could no longer be met. Staff protected people from nutrition and hydration risks, and they were encouraged to choose healthy food options, and balanced diets whilst meeting their likes, and preferences.

The home’s registered manager was visible and there was an open, positive, and honest culture. The provider’s vision and values were clearly set out, understood by staff and they followed them. Areas of responsibility and accountability were identified, for the registered manager, staff and a good service was maintained and regularly reviewed. Audits were thorough, and records were kept up to date. Where possible community links and working partnerships were established and maintained to further minimise social isolation. The provider met Care Quality Commission (CQC) registration requirements. Healthcare professionals told us that the service was well managed and met people’s needs in a professional, open, and friendly way.

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

Why we inspected

The last rating for this service was Good (published 25 October 2018).

We undertook this inspection to check whether the service was continuing to provide a good, rated service to people.

The overall rating for the service has remained Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

We did not inspect the key questions of caring, and responsive.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Harwood Road on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.