Highcroft House

Updated 9 May 2019

The inspection:

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.

Inspection team:

One inspector carried out this inspection visit.

Service and service type:

Highcroft House is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The home had a registered manager. 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 advised of a move from the home when a new manager would become registered. The new manager was working alongside the registered manager in the home.

Notice of inspection

The inspection was unannounced.

What we did:

Before the inspection:

We reviewed information we had received about the home since the last inspection in June 2016. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse. We assessed the information we require providers to send us at least once annually (the Provider Information Return) to give some key information about the home, what the home does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection. We checked for feedback from local authorities and commissioning bodies.

During inspection:

We looked at the information we had gathered. We met all but one of the people living in Highcroft House, and we spent time observing staff working with and supporting people in communal areas during the inspection. We spoke with two care staff, the housekeeper, the registered manager and the new manager. We reviewed a range of records. This included two people's care records and medication records. We also looked at the training records of all staff and staff rotas. We reviewed records relating to the management of the home and looked at a small selection of policies and procedures developed and implemented by the provider.

After the inspection;

We contacted and spoke with two relatives by phone on 26 March to find out about their experience of using the support and service provided to people in the home.

Updated 9 May 2019

About the service:

Highcroft House is a residential care home that was providing personal and nursing care for up to nine people who had learning disabilities and physical disabilities or long-term conditions. At the time of the inspection there were seven people living in the home.

The care service had not originally been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. The home had been registered before such guidance was produced. The guidance focussed on values including choice, promotion of independence and inclusion so that people with learning disabilities and autism using a service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen. However, it was clear that people living in Highcroft House were given such choices. The home was located in a residential suburb where people’s independence and participation within the local community continued to be encouraged and enabled.

Rating at last inspection:

The service was rated Good at the last inspection; the report was published in July 2016

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the previous overall rating.

People’s experience of using this service:

People’s medicines were managed safely and in line with best practice guidelines. People received their medicines safely as they were prescribed. Improvements had been made since the last inspection to ensure that procedures to manage stocks of medication and return medicines that was not wanted were robust. Other detailed audits were also being carried out to check on the quality of the service and to maintain compliance with regulations.

Systems were in place to ensure that people were protected by the prevention and control of infection. Accidents, incidents and any near misses were analysed for lessons learnt and these were shared with the staff team to reduce further reoccurrence.

People continued to receive care that protected them to keep safe and staff understood how to protect people from abuse and harm. Risks to people were assessed and detailed guidance about how to manage these was available for staff to refer to and follow. All staff were clear about action they would take in the event of any emerging concerns about how people were being cared for. Recruitment of staff was carried out to ensure that adequate numbers of suitable staff were available to support people.

People continued to receive effective support from staff who had sufficient level of skills and knowledge to meet their specific needs. New staff received comprehensive induction training before they started to support people. People were supported in line with their abilities and known preferences. Staff involved people as much as possible to make decisions and utilised the shared information that was available to ensure that they fully explored what the person liked to do before commencing any activity.

People continued to be cared for by staff who displayed kindness and compassion in ways that upheld their privacy and dignity. People’s diverse needs were well known, always recognised and support and access to activities was supported and enabled by staff.

The care home continued to be well-led. Staff were positive about the leadership and skills of the registered manager. The registered manager had a good knowledge of the support needs and communication methods of people using the service. Required information was available in the home and made available when requested in line with the regulations.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor the home through the information we receive.

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