19 August 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Highfield is a residential care home providing accommodation with personal and nursing care for up to 34 people. The home was arranged across two floors with lift access to the upper floor. The service provides support to people with a range of needs, including people with physical disabilities and people living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 24 people living in the service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The service did not always deploy enough staff to fully meet peoples’ support needs. There were not always enough staff to support people in a timely manner who needed assistance with their meals. Activities were limited due to staffing levels and there was a lack of social engagement with people.
People told us they felt safe living in Highfield and people received safe care and treatment from staff who knew them well. Medicines and infection control were both managed safely, and lessons were learned when things went wrong. People were protected from the risk of abuse by well trained staff.
People were involved in decisions about their care and they received care which promoted their dignity and encouraged independence. Relatives told us they were involved in their relative’s care plans and were kept up to date with changes, either in the service or with their relative’s care or health.
Effective quality assurance processes were in place to monitor the service and regular audits were undertaken. Staff had received appropriate training. A new registered manager had been appointed since our last inspection. People, relatives and staff all told us they found them approachable and supportive with an open-door policy.
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.
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 good (published 15 January 2019).
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, effective and well led. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.
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.
The overall rating for the service has not changed following this focused inspection and remains good.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Highfield on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.