Homestead Care Home

Updated 2 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 coronavirus 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 16 February 2021 and was announced.

Updated 2 March 2021

About the service:

Homestead is a ‘care home’ that is registered to provide personal care and accommodates up to 33 people. There were 26 people living at the home at the time of the inspection.

People’s experience of using this service:

Since the last inspection in April 2018 we found improvements had been made to address the areas we identified as requiring improvement and the breaches of regulation had been met. However, we did find that further improvements were required to ensure the consistency of care records and that management audits and checks are robust enough to identify all areas that require action to be taken.

People were supported by staff to stay safe and who treated them with respect and dignity and encouraged them to maintain their independence.

People were supported to receive their medicines as required and were supported by staff who were aware of the risks to them on a daily basis.

Staff had a good understanding of the importance of gaining consent from people before providing support and the registered manager had a good understanding of the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA). However, we found that improvements could be made in the provider’s paperwork to record assessments to ensure the principles of the act were promoted consistently.

Staff received training that was appropriate to them in their role and supported them in providing care in the way people wanted.

Staff liaised with other health care professionals to meet people’s health needs and support their wellbeing. Care was provided in the way that people preferred, and people felt able to raise any concerns they may have with staff.

People gave positive feedback about the choice of food provided which they told us they enjoyed.

We saw people were offered regular drinks throughout the day to support their wellbeing.

People, relatives and staff all told us there had been an improvement in the activities provided and we saw people enjoyed a range of activities.

Staff felt supported and said they could talk to management and felt confident any concerns would be acted on promptly.

People, relatives and staff spoke of improvement within the service since the last inspection. The provider worked in partnership and collaboration with other key organisations to support care provision.

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 requires improvement (published 28 November 2018) and there were two breaches of regulation and a warning notice was issued to the provider stating governance arrangements needed to improve. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations, although improvements needed to ensure the consistency of care records and that management audits and checks are robust enough to identify all areas that require action to be taken.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.