21, 23 and 29 December 2015
During a routine inspection
This inspection took place on 21, 23 and 29 December 2015. The first two visits were unannounced.
Hatherleigh provides personal and nursing care to a maximum of 53 people in the rural community. The home has one unit providing care for people with dementia and one unit, over two floors, providing general nursing care. There were 50 people resident at the time of this inspection.
Our inspection in December 2014 found six breaches of the regulations. These related to care and welfare, staffing, medicine management, safeguarding people from abuse, consent and quality monitoring. The provider sent us a comprehensive action plan. We inspected the service again in December 2015, specifically to check whether people’s care and welfare needs were being met, and found that they were.
The home is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
Medicine management was well organised and there were checks in place to make sure people’s medicines were provided in a safe way.
People’s needs were met by sufficient numbers of staff, who were recruited following checks on their background and suitability to work in a care home environment. Staff received training, supervision and support in their roles.
The premises was well maintained and upgrading improvements had increased people’s comfort.
Risk to individuals was assessed and any identified risk was managed for their safety.
Staff had a good understanding of how to protect people from abuse and respond should they had any concerns. People’s legal rights were upheld.
There was a varied menu and people’s dietary needs were met. One said, “Food is quite nice. I get enough to eat, it is tasty and well cooked”.
Health care needs were met through consultation with community professionals and support to attend hospital and other health care visits.
People received kind and compassionate care. One person said, “Nothing is too much trouble for them. I am very lucky.” Staff engaged with people in a respectful way, promoting their dignity.
People received care which was individual to them, taking into account their needs, preferences and wishes. There were regular activities for people should they wish to be involved and the home environment had benefitted from adaptations, such as raised vegetable beds and posters to trigger memories from people’s past.
Complaints were used as a way to improve the service. Where necessary staff had received additional training and an apology had been given where things could have been done better.
There were comprehensive systems in place to ensure the service was well run, such as audits, staff meetings, and consulting with people about how the home is run.