Little Holland Hall

Little Holland Hall is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to people aged 65 and over. The care home accommodates up to 41 people in one adapted building over two floors. There were 37 people accommodated at the time of the inspection.

There was 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.

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

Staff treated people with compassion and kindness. People and relatives spoken with were consistently positive about the caring attitude of staff; one person summed it up, “Good home, good food and very good company – I like it here a lot!”

The atmosphere of the service was comfortable and homely. Staff understood people’s care and support needs, wishes and choices and any associated risks to their health and welfare. 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; policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Staff treated people as individuals, quickly responded to their changing needs and delivered planned and sensitive care and support.

The service was open and inclusive. Staff encouraged and supported people to keep relationships that were important to them and arrangements were in place to meet people’s social and emotional needs. Staff worked well with external health care professionals to ensure people received joined-up care. People received their medicines safely.

The service was consistently well-managed, the culture of the service was positive and person centred, with a clear vision and values.

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 28 April 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

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

Little Holland Hall provides accommodation and personal care for up to 41 older people and people with nursing needs. As a nursing home, the service is also registered to provide the regulated activities ‘treatment of disease, disorder or injury’ and ‘diagnostic and screening services’. At the time of our inspection there were 36 people using the service.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post at the service. 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. The day-to-day running of the service was carried out by registered manager supported by a clinical lead nurse and an administrator.

People were safe because the manager and staff understood their responsibilities to recognise abuse and keep people safe. People received safe care that met their assessed needs and staff knew how to manage risk effectively.

There were sufficient staff who had been recruited safely and who had the correct skills and knowledge to provide care and support in ways that people preferred.

The provider had clear systems in place to manage medicines and people were supported to take their prescribed medicines safely.

People’s health needs were managed effectively by a team of staff including qualified registered nurses and trained care workers with input from relevant health professionals. People had sufficient food and drink that met their individual needs.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) monitors the operation of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) which apply to care homes. We found the provider was following the MCA code of practice.

The management team supported staff to provide care that was centred on the person and staff understood their responsibility to treat people as individuals.

People were treated with kindness by staff who understood their needs and preferences. Staff respected people’s choices and provided support in ways that people preferred. People were encouraged to enjoy pastimes and interests of their choice and encouraged to maintain relationships with family and friends so that they were not socially isolated.

Staff had good relationships with people who used the service and understood their needs. People’s privacy and dignity was respected.

There was an open culture and the registered manager and clinical lead nurse supported staff to provide care that met people’s needs.

The provider had systems in place to check the quality of the service and take the views of people into account to make improvements to the service. There were systems in place for people to raise concerns and there were opportunities available for people to give their feedback about the service.

The registered manager and nursing staff maintained a visible presence and were actively involved in supporting people and staff. Staff were positive about their roles and their views were taken into account and valued.

There were procedures in place for the ordering, storage and administration of medication. We found gaps on the medication signing sheet so we could not be sure people were receiving their prescribed medication.

Staff told us that they felt well supported in their work. They had access to training and supervision and were supported to undertake further study.

The service carried out audits and had processes in place to monitor the quality of service provision.