Hillbeck Residential Care Home

Updated 23 March 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

One inspector, a specialist advisor who was a nurse and an expert by experience conducted the inspection. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The specialist advisor looked specifically at medication procedures with within the service as some of the notification that were received involved medication.

Service and service type:

Hillbeck Residential Care home is a 'care home'. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

Our inspection was unannounced.

We visited the service on the 27 February 2019

What we did:

Before visiting the service, we looked at information sent to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) through notifications. Notifications are information we receive when a significant event happens, like a death or a serious injury.

We reviewed four people's care records, which included care plans, risk assessments, daily care records and medicines records. We looked at documentation that related to staff management and recruitment including three staff files. We also looked at a sample of audits, surveys, minutes of meetings and policies and procedures.

We gathered people’s experiences of the service. We spoke with seven people. We looked at feedback given by people through the providers quality audit processes. We also spoke with the registered manager and four members of staff. We received feedback from two external health and social care professionals.

Updated 23 March 2019

About the service:

Hillbeck is a residential care home that was providing personal care to 49 older people, some who were living with dementia, at the time of the inspection.

People’s experience of using this service:

• People told us they felt safe at Hillbeck. They knew who to report any concerns to and were happy with the support they received from staff. One person told us, “If I need to complain there wouldn’t be any problem with that.”

• People's care records contained guidance for staff about how to support people safely and minimise risks to people. Staff were trained in their responsibilities for safeguarding adults and knew what action to take if they witnessed or suspected any abuse.

• People felt safe and received support to take their medicines safely. One person told us, “"My medicine is all brought to me at the same time each day."

• There were sufficient staff to meet people's needs and recruitment processes and procedures were robust.

• Risks to people's well-being and safety were assessed, recorded and kept up to date. Staff supported people to manage these risks effectively. One person told us, “I have a frame to help my mobility, and I am managing it with the help of the careers.”

• Staff were competent, knowledgeable and skilled. They received regular training, supervisions and appraisals which supported them to conduct their roles effectively. One person told us, “The staff get on well and they are good at what they do.”

• Staff and people said the manager was approachable and listened. One person told us, “The manager is very nice and approachable, you can tell her anything.”

• The provider's quality assurance processes were effective and resulted in improvements to the service.

Rating at last inspection:

At the last comprehensive inspection the service was rated Good (27 September 2017).

Why we inspected:

This was a focused inspection. We had received a high number of notifications from the provider and concerns in relation to the way people were supported. We undertook a focused inspection to check whether people were receiving consistently safe care We looked at our domains 'safe' and 'well led'. This report only covers our findings in relation to these topics.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service.

For more details, please read the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.