Housing 21 - Hogshill Gardens

Updated 30 October 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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is bought or rented and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection and that people would be available to speak with us.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke to four members of staff including the registered manager, and four people who used the service about the care provided. We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 30 October 2019

About the service

Housing 21- Hogshill Gardens is an Extra Care Housing provider and domiciliary care service. The service provides personal care where required. Personal care is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided. Some people received personal care from other agencies or privately hired personal assistants.

The extra care housing is purpose-built and people live in their own flats in a communal building. There are 33 one bedroom apartments and six two bedroom apartments at this location, which is referred to as a court. There are communal areas and a shared garden. There were 35 people over 65 years of age receiving personal care at the time of this inspection.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People felt safe at the court and were happy with the care they received. Communal areas of the court were clean and bright and people used the areas to socialise. Risk assessments were carried out. Staffing levels were safe although people sometimes had to wait for care at busy times. Staff were recruited safely and were well trained.

People received effective care at the service . Where part of the package of care, people were supported to eat and drink well at the court and enjoyed the home cooked food provided by the chef. People had clear, well written care plans and staff read and followed them. Staff supported people to visit healthcare providers.

People were well cared for and staff cared about the people at the court. Staff took time with people, a member of staff told us, “I like sitting chatting to the residents, they have interesting stories.” People were encouraged to remain independent and could plan their own days. Staff respected people’s privacy.

People had personalised care plans and the care they received followed the plans. People were encouraged to remain active and involved. The service organised activities during the day in the communal areas such as bingo or coffee mornings and raffles and people were encouraged to invite their friends and families to join them.

The service was well led by a registered manager who was proud of their team. The registered manager was keen to promote the court as a home from home and was happy to learn from people’s feedback. The registered manager was well supported by the provider and in turn supported the staff. A member of the senior team was always available. Audits were carried out to constantly improve the service. Staff were happy to work at the court. A staff member told us, “Staff are good, we’ve a good manager, we work as a team.”

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

This service was registered with us on 18 July 2018 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection of a newly registered location.