Updated 11 April 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 first day of inspection was completed by an adult social care inspector and an expert by experience. An expert by experience (ExE) is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The second day was completed by one adult social care inspector.
Service and service type
Handsworth is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.
At the time of this inspection the registered manager was on long-term leave. However, the deputy manager had assumed day-to-day responsibility for the running of the home and had delegated responsibilities to ensure legal requirements were being met. The deputy manager was also well supported by the area support manager.
Notice of inspection
Day one was unannounced. Day two was by mutual arrangement with the management team.
What we did
We reviewed information we had received about the home since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about and we sought feedback from the local authority who work with the home. We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return (PIR). This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection, we spoke with 11 people who used the service and five visiting relatives to ask about their experience of the care provided. We also 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 spoke with the deputy manager, area support manager, and seven members of staff covering a variety of roles.
We looked at records relating to the quality and safety of care being provided and records associated with the building and premises.