Hunters Down Care Home

Updated 2 February 2021

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of CQC’s response to care homes with outbreaks of coronavirus, we are conducting reviews to ensure that the Infection Prevention and Control practice was safe and the service was compliant with IPC measures. This was a targeted inspection looking at the IPC practices the provider has in place.

This inspection took place on 11 January 2021 and was unannounced.

Updated 2 February 2021

About the service

Hunters Down Care Home is registered to provide accommodation and nursing care for up to 102 people. At the time of our inspection there were 91 people living at the service.

The service is a two storey premises located on the outskirts of Huntingdon. The service has communal lounges and dining areas on each floor and all bedrooms are single rooms with an en-suite toilet and washbasin. The service is divided into five separate units. People are cared for in a unit according to their needs and levels of independence.

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

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.

People felt safe and were happy living in at Hunters Down. There were enough staff employed to ensure people needs were met in a timely way. Staff were knowledgeable about people’s needs and how to support them safely. Staff received appropriate training and knew how to report their concerns internally and externally to local safeguarding authorities.

People and relatives told us staff were kind, caring and respectful towards them. Relatives confirmed they felt welcome at the home. People were involved in their care and where appropriate their relatives as well.

Staff received regular training, supervision and appraisals to develop further. Their skills and knowledge were regularly reviewed through competency assessments.

Activities were delivered and encouraged by staff. The variety of activities offered meant that every person found something of interest and could participate in group or individual engagement opportunities.

The registered manager had quality assurance systems to ensure the monitoring and improvement of the service, action plans were in place to drive improvement. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities. People, relatives and staff felt the registered manager was approachable. The registered manager had an open-door policy.

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 27 June 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.