Hegarty Care

Updated 31 May 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 inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

Service and service type:

Hegarty Care is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Hegarty Care is a new model of care that aims to enable people with learning disabilities to live and remain in their local community. It had been developed in line with the Registering the Right Support values of choice, independence and inclusion.

Notice of inspection:

This comprehensive inspection was unannounced.

What we did:

Before our inspection, we reviewed information we held about the service. This included information received from local health and social care organisations and statutory notifications. A notification is information about important events, which the provider is required to send us by law, such as, allegations of abuse and serious injuries. We also contacted commissioners of the service and asked them for their views. We received feedback from a community psychiatric nurse, two social workers and a community team manager. We used this information to help us to plan the inspection. The provider had also submitted a Provider Information Return. 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.

During our inspection visit, we spoke with one person who lived at the service about their experience of the care they received and a visiting relative. After the inspection we spoke with another relative of a person who lived at the service. We also spoke with the registered manager, trainee manager, senior support worker and three support workers. To help us assess how people's care needs were being met, we reviewed all, or part of; two people's care records and other information, for example their risk assessments. We also looked at the medicines records of four people, three staff recruitment files and a range of records relating to the running of the service. We carried out general observations of care and support and looked at the interactions between staff and people who used the service.

After our inspection visit, we asked the management team to send us a copy of various records, this included staff training, audits and a current action plan. These were received within the timescales requested and were reviewed as part of the inspection.

Updated 31 May 2019

About the service:

We conducted an unannounced inspection at Hegarty Care on 24 April 2019. Hegarty Care accommodates up to four people in one building. On the day of our inspection, four people were using the service, all were people living with a learning disability or mental health needs.

People’s experience of using this service:

People received an excellent service at Hegarty Care where they were supported to lead active and fulfilling lives. People told us the approach of staff made them feel safe, valued and life was happy and had a meaningful purpose. People’s experience was summed up by a person who said, “I would rate this service as outstanding - its changed my life so much.”

The outcomes for people living at Hegarty Care reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support in the following ways; promotion of choice and control, independence and inclusion. People were at the heart of the service and staff’s approach, where constant motivation enabled people to gain in confidence, self-worth and self-determination. People were positive about their future, they had gained new skills, independence and were supported to achieve personal goals and aspirations.

People were protected from avoidable harm and abuse, there was a positive approach to risk taking and people were fully involved in decisions about how known risks were managed. This had resulted in people achieving significant outcomes, people had developed in confidence that enabled them to take control of their own safety. People were enabled to be active citizens of their community without restrictions.

Staff had a positive rehabilitation approach to support people in their journey of recovery with their mental health needs. The person-centred and motivational approach at Hegarty Care, provided structure and purpose to people and had contributed in people’s achieving personal goals.

People received support from staff who were well trained and supported, to provide safe and effective care. Staff skill mix, personality and interests were considered when matching staff to support people with activities of their choice. People were involved in the recruitment of staff and checks were completed on staff’s suitability to provide care.

People received their prescribed medicines safely and were supported to access health care services to maintain their healthcare needs. Healthy eating was encouraged, and people were fully involved in menu planning, shopping and the preparation of meals. Independence was promoted in all aspects of care and daily living. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Staff were caring and compassionate and had developed a good understanding of people’s diverse needs, routines and what was important to them. From speaking with staff, it was clear they were passionate about their work and wanted the very best for people they supported. Information had been made available for people that met their communication needs.

Positive partnerships had been developed with external health and social care professionals. People benefited from good multi-disciplinary working.

A range of regular checks had been completed to review the quality and safety of the care and support provided. Where improvements were identified, action plans were developed to continuously develop and improve the service and enhance people’s life. People, relatives, external professionals and staff, received opportunities to share their experience of the service and this helped drive improvements forward.

The service met the characteristics of outstanding in Safe and Responsive; more information is in the full report.

Rating at last inspection:

This was the provider’s first inspection since registration.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the registration date.

Follow up:

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