Highwell House Care Home with Nursing

Updated 26 March 2021

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.

As part of CQC’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic we are looking at the preparedness of care homes in relation to infection prevention and control. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection control and prevention measures the provider has in place.

This inspection took place on 11 March 2021 and was announced.

Updated 26 March 2021

This inspection was carried out on 25 July 2017 and was unannounced.

Highwell House provides accommodation and nursing care for up to 34 people. At the time of our inspection there were 28 older people living at the home some of whom were living with dementia ,

There was a registered manager in post. 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 and associated regulations about how the service is run.

We last inspected Highwell House in May 2015 and rated the service as Good overall. Since this time further improvements have been made for the benefit of people who live there. The service provided excellent and innovative approaches to person centred care that maintained people’s health and wellbeing. Staff supported people to maintain hobbies and interests, promoting people’s abilities and skills.

The provider's approach to care and support to people was focused on maintaining and improving people's quality of life. The provider was always looking at ways to adapt and improve the care and support to reduce the impact of their health conditions and to improve people’s wellbeing.

People, relatives and professionals were consistently positive about the care provided at Highwell House.

The provider had maintained very high quality care and constantly strived to be the best in the area. The provider was recognised both locally and nationally as being an outstanding contributor to the care field.

People's health needs were monitored and changes were made to people's care in response to any changes in their needs. Current best practice was used to enhance how people’s needs were assessed and addressed. People had access to other health professionals and were referred to them by the registered manager if there were any concerns about their health needs.

There were strong established links with the local community that promoted positive approaches to the people that lived there.

Staff were motivated and had excellent levels of support as well as extensive and on-going training to enable them to meet the individual needs of people living at the home. There were sufficient numbers of experienced and trained staff to ensure people were supported safely and people’s health needs responded to quickly. Medicines were managed safely and people received their medicines in line with their prescription.

People's needs and preferences were responded to effectively. People were supported by a provider and staff team who were focused on getting to know the people they supported. Relatives told us the service was responsive and well managed. People and relatives knew the registered manager and the provider. People were encouraged to be actively involved in the running of the home through regular meetings. They felt that if they had any concerns they were able to speak with the registered manager or provider. The provider welcomed people's views and opinions and acted upon them.

People were consistently treated with dignity and respect. People had good positive relationships with staff. The provider supported people to promote dignity and respect to the wider community and worked to challenge people’s perceptions.

There were a range of audits and checks to make sure that excellent standards of care and support were maintained. Feedback from the people and relatives was gathered on a regular basis and where any actions were identified these were actioned quickly.

People felt safe and knew how to raise concerns. Staff felt comfortable to raise any concerns about people’s safety and understood about how to keep people safe. Staff supported people to take positive risks. Where risks had been identified risk assessments were in place and action had been taken to reduce the risks.

People enjoyed the food and had the support they needed to enjoy their food and drinks safely. People were able to make choices about the food and drink they wanted. There was a choice of freshly prepared nutritious food and where additional monitoring and support was needed this was provided.