Archived: Hillside Nursing Home

Updated 25 January 2017

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, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This unannounced inspection took place on 7 and 8 December 2016.

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors, a specialist nurse advisor and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of service.

Before our inspection, we reviewed the information we held about the service. We contacted the commissioners of the service to obtain their views about the care provided.

During our inspection we spent time observing care and support provided to people in the communal areas. We spoke with nine people who used the service, the registered manager, deputy manager, chef, handyperson, administrator, two nurses, nine care staff and eight relatives. We looked at 12 people’s care records and other records relating to the management of the service. This included three sets of recruitment records, duty rosters, accident and incidents, complaints, health and safety, maintenance, quality monitoring and medicines records.

Updated 25 January 2017

This unannounced inspection took place over two days on 7 and 8 December 2016.

Hillside Nursing Home is a purpose built 55 bed care home providing accommodation and nursing and personal care for older people, including people living with dementia. The service is accessible throughout for people with mobility difficulties and has specialist equipment to support those that need it. For example, hoists and adapted baths are available. 52 people were using the service when we visited.

The service had 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

We found medicines were not safely managed and people did not always receive their medicines in line with the prescriber’s directions. People who received their medicines without their knowledge (covertly) were not managed safely.

There were not enough staff deployed to safely provide people with the care and support they needed.

Although services and equipment were checked they were not always properly maintained.

People had access to healthcare professionals when needed but recommendations from them were not always followed. For example, with regards to pressure area care.

People were placed at risk of receiving care and support that did not fully met their current needs. This was because care plans did not always contain sufficient detail or consistent information.

The provider had systems in place to monitor the service provided but these were not robust and had not ensured that people received a good quality of service.

Staff received appropriate training to provide a safe service that met people’s needs. Further training was scheduled to ensure that staff training was up to date

Staff supported people to make choices about their care and systems were in place to ensure they were not unlawfully deprived of their liberty.

People were happy to talk to the registered manager and to raise any concerns they had. Staff told us they received good support.

Systems were in place to safeguard people from abuse and staff were aware of how to identify and report any concerns about people’s safety and welfare.

People told us they felt safe at Hillside and were supported by kind and caring staff.

We saw that staff supported people patiently, with care and encouraged them to do things for themselves. Staff provided care in a respectful way that promoted people’s dignity.

The provider’s recruitment process ensured staff were suitable to work with people who need support.

People’s nutritional needs were met but we have recommended that lunchtime arrangements and support be reviewed to ensure that people receive the support they need in a timely manner.

Activities were provided but people told us that there was not enough to do. Activity worker hours were being increased to help to address this concern.

We found five breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.