Archived: Holmwood House

Updated 29 July 2015

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. The 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 inspection took place on 25 June 2015 and was unannounced. The inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

The inspection also followed up the actions the provider had taken to meet the legal requirements following the last inspection where four breaches of regulation were found.

Before the inspection, we reviewed the information we had about the home. This included looking at any notifications we had received from the service. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to tell us about by law.

We met with eight people who were living at the home. We made observations during the day in order to see how people were supported and their relationships with the staff. We spoke with three staff members, two relatives and with the home’s manager. We looked at three people’s care records, together with other records about people’s care and the running of the service. These included employment records, audits, and records relating to medicines.

Updated 29 July 2015

This inspection took place on 25 June 2015 and was unannounced. The previous inspection of Holmwood House was on 22 January 2015. There were four breaches of the legal requirements at that time. These related to:

• Consent to care and treatment
• Supporting staff
• Record keeping
• Assessing and monitoring the quality of service provision

Holmwood House is a care home with nursing for up to 41 older people. Thirteen people were living at the home at the time of this inspection.

The home did not 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.

The last registered manager left the home in August 2014. A new manager started in October 2014 and they applied for registration with the Commission in May 2015. Their application was being assessed at the time of this inspection.

We found that checks were not always being made to ensure good information was available about staff and whether they were safe to be providing care to people. There were also risks to people’s safety because of actions being taken which compromised the home’s fire precautions.

People spoke positively about the staff. One person described staff as “very kind”. We were told that staff were friendly and “good company”. People also commented favourably about the meals. A staff member said they enjoyed their work and found it very rewarding.

People’s care needs were being assessed. Staff were aware of people who were at risk, for example because of poor nutrition or pressure damage to the skin. However people’s care was not always well planned and monitored. People were at risk because of a lack of appropriate information about their care and support.

Action had been taken since the last inspection to develop some aspects of the service and to achieve the standards expected. However, as at previous inspections, there were shortcomings in the service which were not being identified and addressed. The provider was not effectively monitoring the service and making all the improvements needed.

We found five breaches of regulations during our inspection. This is being followed up and we will report on any action when it is complete.