19 April 2021
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Health and Home Ltd - North Road is registered to provide accommodation and personal care for up to a maximum of 9 people. The service is set over two floors, with a small paved garden area to the rear of the property. On the day of our inspection, there were 5 people living at the service who required support with their physical and mental health needs.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People told us they were happy living at the service but found they were often bored and looked forward to being able to go out again in the community when lockdown eased.
The provider did not have robust processes in place to check staff’s suitability before commencing employment.
Governance processes were not consistent, and we could not be sure the provider had oversight of the service or followed regulatory processes.
Staff knew how to safeguard people and raise concerns; however, the provider did not follow the correct processes to report safeguarding concerns.
There were systems in place to manage infection control and staff were following government guidance.
Risk assessments and care plans were individual and supported people’s needs. Medicines was managed safely.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection: The rating at the last inspection was requires improvement report published 17 October 2019. The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement for the last three consecutive inspections.
Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the previous 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.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the relevant key question for safe and well led sections of this full report.
We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Health and Home Limited North Road on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Enforcement: We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.
We have identified breaches in relation to recruitment of staff and good governance at this inspection.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up: We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.